The 


Development  of 


Commercial 


Ports 


I.  What  the  Ports  of  Europe  are  Doing 
II.  Chicago's   Commercial  Opportunity 


Report  to  the 

Chicago  Harbor  Commission 

By  J.  PAUL  GOODE 


Contents 

Letter  of  Transmittal 1 

Acknowledgments    >3 

I.  What  the  Ports  of  Europe  Are  Doing : 

The  Function  of  a  Port 5 

Statistical  Comparison  of  the  Growth  of  Ports 6 

The  English  Midlands 11 

Liverpool     12 

Manchester     20 

The  Tyne  Ports 31 

The  Port  of  Bristol 34 

The  Scottish  Lowlands :    Glasgow 37 

The  London  Basin :     The  Port  of  London 42 

The  Welsh  Coal  Field :     Cardiff 48 

The  Paris  Basin :    The  Port  of  Havre 50 

The  Valleys  of  Germany  and  Their  Ports: 

The  Port  of  Antwerp 54 

The  Port  of  Rotterdam ,  60 

The  Port  of  Hamburg ." 67 

II.  Chicago's  Commercial  Opportunity 75 

The  Strategic  Position 77 

The  Hinterland  80 

How  Chicago  Became  a  Metropolis 86 

The  Manifest  Destiny 91 

Planning  for  the  Future 100 


Letter  of  Transmittal 

To  the  Chicago  Harbor  Commission: 

GENTLEMEN — I  herewith  respectfully  submit  my  report  on 
the  great  seaports  of  Europe,  with  suggestions  bearing  on  the 
question  of  the  development  of  the  water  front  of  Chicago.  This 
report  embodies  the  results  of  a  personal  visit  to  all  the  ports  dis- 
cussed, an  accumulation  of  the  latest  official  records  and  maps,  and 
personal  interviews  with  the  various  harbor  authorities. 

Sincerely, 

J.  PAUL  GOODE. 
The  University  of  Chicago. 

November  10,  1908. 


Acknowledgments 

In  every  port  visited  I  received  the  most  courteous  considera- 
tion. The  name  of  Chicago  and  her  Mayor,  whom  I  represented, 
proved  an  open  sesame.  The  "freedom  of  the  port"  was  invari- 
ably granted  me,  and  every  opportunity  given  to  see  and  learn  of 
the  business  of  the  port.  I  hereby  tender  to  the  following  gentle- 
men, my  sincere  thanks  on  behalf  of  the  Chicago  Harbor  Commis- 
sion, for  generous  attention  and  assistance. 

In  Liverpool :  Mr.  Miles  Kirk  Burton,  secretary  and  general 
manager;  Mr.  Alfred  Chandler,  assistant  secretary;  and  Mr.  An- 
thony George  Lyster,  chief  engineer,  of  the  Mersey  Docks  and 
Harbour  Board.  The  Lord  Mayor  of  Liverpool,  and  Mr.  Percy  F. 
Corkhill,  the  Lord  Mayor's  secretary.  Mr.  Allen  Milne,  secretary 
of  the  Liverpool  Board  of  Trade ;  and  the  American  Consul  at 
Liverpool,  Hon.  John  L.  Griffiths. 

In  Manchester:  Mr.  F.  A.  Eyre,  secretary  Manchester  Ship 
Canal  Co. ;  Mr.  Herbert  M.  Gibson,  chief  traffic  superintendent,  and 
Mr.  A.  Joynson,  assistant  traffic  superintendent.  Professor  John 
MacFarlane  of  the  Victoria  University,  Manchester. 

In  Glasgow :  Mr.  Thomas  Riach  Mackenzie,  secretary  and  gen- 
eral manager  of  the  Clyde  Navigation;  Mr.  D.  M.  Macintyre,  as- 
sistant secretary ;  Mr.  W.  M.  Alston,  chief  engineer ;  and  Mr.  Wm. 
Stewart,  traffic  manager.  Mr.  Archibald  Colville,  and  Mr.  David 
M.  Maclay  of  the  Dalzell  Steel  Works,  Motherwell.  Mr.  James 
Gilchrist  of  the  firm  of  Barclay,  Curie  &  Co.,  ship  and  engine 
builders.  Mr.  M.  Samuel,  secretary  to  the  Lord  Provost  of  Glas- 
gow. 

In  Leith  and  Edinburgh :  Mr.  Rufus  Fleming.  American  Consul. 

In  Newcastle-on-Tyne :  Mr.  J.  McDonald  Manson,  secretary 
and  general  manager  of  The  Tyne  Improvement  Commission,  and 
Mr.  H.  J.  Moscrip,  assistant  secretary.  Mr.  R.  L.  Wedgwood, 
chief  goods  manager.  Northern  Division  of  the  N.  E.  Ry.,  and 
Mr.  Thomas  Edington,  assistant  goods  traffic  superintendent. 

In  London :  Hon.  Whitelaw  Reid,  American  ambassador ;  Hon. 
T.  H.  W.  Pelham,  C.  B.,  secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trade ;  Mr.  J. 
G.  Broodbank,  secretary,  and  Mr.  R.  Biscoe,  assistant  secretary  of 

3 


the  London  and  India  Docks  Co.,  and  Mr.  Charles  E.  Vernon,  chief 
engineer.  Mr.  E.  H.  Bailey,  and  Capt.  T.  H.  Uren,  superintend- 
ents Victoria  and  Albert  Docks.  Mr.  W.  B.  Duffield,  secretary  of 
the  Royal  Canal  Commission  and  Mr.  R.  B.  Dunvvoody,  engineer. 
Mr.  G.  L.  Gomme,  clerk,  London  County  Council. 

In  Bristol :  The  sercretary  to  the  Lord  Mayor,  Mr.  Reed.    Mr. 

F.  B.  Girdlestone,  general  manager,  and  Mr.  A.  Harvey,  assistant 
manager  of  the  Bristol  Docks ;  Mr.  W.  T.  Shapland,  traffic  manager 
of  the  City  Docks;  Mr.  W.  Wilkinson  Squire,  chief  engineer;  Mr. 

G.  A.  Collins,  traffic  manager,  Avonmouth  Docks,  and  Dr.  J.  Perry 
Worden,  American  Consul. 

In  Cardiff:  Mr.  James  Hurman,  superintendent  Cardiff  Rail- 
way Co.,  and  Mr.  W.  J.  Holloway,  assistant  superintendent. 

In  Southampton :  Colonel  Albert  W.  Swalm,  American  Consul ; 
Captain  G.  H.  Lewis  of  the  London  and  Southwestern  Railway. 
Mr.  G.  W.  Sandell,  president  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  Mr. 
Peter  Milne  Stewart,  secretary.  Colonel  R.  C.  Hellard,  C.  B.,  R.  E., 
of  the  Ordnance  Survey. 

In  Havre:  Mr.  Alphonse  Gaulin,  American  Consul.  M.  Guif- 
fart,  chief  engineer  of  the  Port  of  Havre. 

In  Antwerp:  Mr.  Henry  W.  Diederich,  American  Consul  Gen- 
eral. M.  Gustave  Aldbrecht,  Alderman  of  Commerce,  and  M. 
Ferdinand  Kinart,  chief  engineer. 

In  Rotterdam:  Colonel  S.  Listoe,  American  Consul  General. 
M.  de  Jongh,  city  engineer;  Mr.  H.  A.  van  Ysselsteyn,  and  Mr. 
C.  Nobel,  assistant  engineers.  Mr.  Emil  G.  Boerner,  grain  inspector 
for  the  American  Department  of  Agriculture. 

In  Bremen:  Mr.  Wm.  T.  Fee,  American  Consul.  Herr  Ed. 
Suling,  city  building  inspector. 

In  Hamburg:  Mr.  Otto  W.  Helmrich,  Deputy  American  Con- 
sul General.  Captain  Fokkes,  Marine  Inspector,  Department  of 
Shipping  and  Commerce. 


I.   What  the  Ports  of  Europe 
are  Doing 


The  Function  of  the  Port 

A  port  is  a  gateway  between  two  transportation  realms.  On 
the  one  hand  the  open  sea  with  its  trackless  waste,  offering  the 
best  and  cheapest  routes  for  traffic  with  all  the  world ;  on  the  other 
hand  the  land,  with  its  roadways  and  inland  waterways  carrying 
the  commodities  of  trade  to  and  from  the  great  commercial  focus, 
as  the  blood  is  carried  to  and  from  the  heart  in  our  vascular  sys- 
tems. 

A  port  becomes  a  great  commercial  focus  in  proportion  as 
certain  factors  are  developed  which  determine  the  flow  of  commerce. 
First :  The  production  of  goods  in  the  hinterland,  which  may  find, 
by  way  of  the  port,  a  market  in  the  world  outside.  The  richer  the 
hinterland,  and  the  larger  the  flow  of  goods,  the  greater  the  pos- 
sibilities of  the  port.  Second:  In  almost  equal  measure  as  a  hin- 
terland develops  its  export  trade,  does  it  become  an  active  market 
for  the  importation  of  goods  from  other  productive  regions,  and 
by  so  much  may  the  business  of  the  port  be  increased.  Third :  Up 
to  the  limits  of  the  opportunity  offered  by  its  hinterland,  a  port  is 
great,  in  proportion  as  it  develops  the  facilities  for  the  flow  of 
commerce,  and  reduces  the  friction  incident  to  the  breaking  of  bulk 
and  the  change  in  the  character  of  the  agent  of  transportation.  In 
the  simplest  of  mechanical  metaphor,  a  port  is  a  pump,  the  effi- 
ciency of  which  is  high  in  proportion  as  the  stream  of  liquid  com- 
merce it  delivers  is  great,  and  the  cost  of  operation  is  low.  In 
just  such  measure  as  the  pump  is  poor  is  the  cost  of  service  high 
and  the  flow  small.  A  port  may  offer  poor  facilities  because  of 
(1)  geographic,  or  (2)  economic  reasons.  Examples  of  geographic 
controls  are  plentiful.  Such  are  the  tortuous  silting  channels  of  the 
distributaries  of  the  Rhine  and  Weser;  or  bars  and  drifting  sand 
as  in  the  Delaware  river,  or  at  Galveston ;  or  in  the  lack  of  anchor- 
age and  storm  protection  as  at  Genoa.  The  economic  handicaps  are 
more  numerous,  and  often  more  difficult  to  handle.  Such  are  un- 
reasonable harbor  dues,  and  poor  or  insufficient  harbor  construc- 
tion; and  inefficient  port  administration.  If  the  need  for  an  exit 

5 


be  urgent  enough  a  great  business  may  be  done  in  spite  of  inferior 
accommodations,  inefficient  administration,  or  excessive  charges. 

It  frequently  happens  that  a  rich  region  may  have  several  po- 
tential ports.  Given  an  option  in  ports  the  business  gravitates  to 
the  point  of  least  obstruction,  or  greatest  advantage.  And  as  al- 
ways in  such  cases  the  Lord  is  on  the  side  of  the  strongest  battalions. 
Illustrations  we  have  in  good  measure  in  ports  serving  the 
rich  manufacturing  midlands  of  England,  where  Liverpool,  Man- 
chester, Bristol,  London,  and  Hull  are  playing  the  great  game,  bal- 
ancing advantages  and  disadvantages  geographic  and  economic  for 
the  prize  of  freight ;  in  the  ports  at  the  mouths  of  the  Rhine,  Weser, 
and  Elbe,  competing  for  the  rich  favors  of  the  German  hinterland ; 
or  right  at  home,  and  on  the  largest  scale,  in  the  struggle  between 
Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  for  the  service  of 
the  phenomenally  productive  hinterland  west  of  the  Appalachian 
highland.  In  the  study  which  follows,  an  attempt  will  be  made  to 
evaluate  the  factors  geographic  and  economic,  in  an  interpreta- 
tion of  some  of  the  world's  great  commercial  foci. 

Statistical  Comparison  of  the  Growth  of  Ports 

As  to  commercial  importance  ports  may  be  compared  in  sever- 
al ways.  For  example,  in  net  register  tonnage.  And  this  either  in 
tonnage  entered  or  cleared,  or  in  the  sum  of  the  two.  A  compari- 
son made  on  this  basis  will  not  be  perfectly  fair;  first,  because  the 
rules  of  registry  differ  somewhat  in  the  different  countries.  Then 
too,  the  records  differ  as  to  whether  coasting  trade  is  counted  in 
or  not,  the  practice  varying  in  different  lands.  And  on  this  score 
the  records  are  always  against  American  ports,  for  our  coasting 
trade,  which  we  usually  do  not  count,  covers  a  coast  line  com- 
parable to  that  of  all  Europe,  and  some  of  it  may  make  journeys 
12,000  miles  or  over  in  length.  All  such  traffic  in  Europe,  because 
of  the  small  size  of  the  European  countries,  is  foreign  trade  and  is 
counted  in.  Then  again  a  vessel  may  take  on  load  in  a  number  of 
ports,  being  credited  to  each  in  turn,  the  entire  tonnage  being 
credited  to  a  port  if  only  a  bag  of  mail  changes  hands.  In  English 
ports  fees  are  charged  for  every  entrance  and  in  some  cases  for 
clearance  as  well,  which  encourages  the  taking  on  of  a  complete 
load  at  one  port.  In  France,  however,  the  navigation  tax  is  paid 
but  once,  and  the  result  is  a  greater  freedom  in  the  routing  of 
ships,  the  tendency  being  to  call  at  more  than  one  port.  Notwith- 
standing these  drawbacks,  the  difficulty  of  getting  complete  data 


THE  GROWTH  OF  PORTS 


Fig.  1.     The  growth  in  tonnage  of  some  of  the  great  ports. 


for  comparison  on  other  lines,  such  as  the  value  of  the  goods,  or 
the  actual  weight  of  merchandise  handled  across  the  ship's  rail, 
leaves  the  net  register  tonnage  as  the  basis  of  comparison  most 
widely  available. 

For  the  purpose  of  our  study  we  need  not  go  back  of  the  year 
1870.  This  date  marks  the  beginning  of  the  age  of  steel  in  trans- 
portation; for  it  is  the  use  of  steel  in  railway  rails  and  equipment, 
and  the  introduction  of  steel  in  ship-building,  which  has  made  the 
recent  vast  industrial  and  commercial  expansion  possible.  Throw- 
ing into  graphic  form  the  record  of  growth  in  net  register  tonnage 


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345  OOO  ravj 


Fig.  2.     Comparison  in  various  ports  of  the  net  register  tonnage  and 
value  of  goods  in  foreign  commerce. 

of  some  of  the  world's  chief  ports  (Fig.  1)  not  only  is  the  great 
expansion  in  traffic  very  striking,  but  the  rate  of  development  is 
very  instructive  in  the  various  ports.  The  adequate  interpretation 
of  this  series  of  curves  would  lay  bare  all  the  factors  at  work,  both 
geographic  and  economic.  The  most  striking  development  is  that 
of  Antwerp,  Hamburg  and  Rotterdam.  These  three,  with  Amster- 
dam are  the  gateways  for  the  world  trade  of  Germany.  New  York 
is  next  most  striking,  but  her  hinterland  is  almost  the  whole  con- 
tinent, and  the  disparity  between  New  York  and  Boston-Philadel- 
phia-Baltimore, the  other  rightful  heirs  to  the  same  hinterland,  is 


an  open  challenge  for  the  rules  of  the  game  by  which  economic 
handicaps  and  favors  in  the  traffic  of  these  ports  are  allotted 

Where  a  comparison  of  the  value  of  goods  handled  can  be  set 
alongside  the  weight  of  goods  handled,  or  even  the  net  register 
tonnage,  an  interesting  light  is  thrown  on  the  character  of  the  trade 
of  the  ports. 

In  the  graf  (Fig.  2)  a  selected  half  dozen  ports  are  arranged 
in  the  order  of  the  value  of  their  traffic  and  compared  also  as  to 
their  tonnage.  It  is  instructive  to  note  the  comparison  of  Cardiff 
with  the  other  ports.  London  with  only  50  per  cent  more  tonnage 
than  Cardiff,  handles  goods  worth  fourteen  times  as  much.  This 
is  because  the  trade  of  Cardiff  is  almost  wholly  the  shipping  of 
coal,  ships  coming  in  light  and  going  out  with  coal  cargoes  of  rela- 
tively low  value.  London,  Liverpool,  Hamburg  and  New  York  on 
the  other  hand  have  active  imports  as  well  as  exports,  and  both 
imports  and  exports  are  largely  of  manufactures  and  other  goods 
of  high  value.  Chicago  in  this  comparison  shows  relatively  low 
values  because  the  lake  trade  is  largely  in  coal,  iron,  lumber,  grain, 
and  other  raw  materials. 

Another  instructive  comparison  of  ports  may  be  made  in  the 
harbor  facilities  provided  for  traffic,  that  is,  the  extent  and  quality 
of  the  physical  equipment.  This  will  include  the  character  of  the 
channel  and  anchorage ;  the  extent  and  quality  of  docks  and  ships ; 
the  quays,  piers,  cranes,  railways,  sheds,  warehouses,  and  other 
means  provided  to  facilitate  the  handling  of  ships  and  freight,  and 
so  reduce  the  time  and  costs  of  the  process.  In  these  matters 
there  is  the  widest  divergence  in  practice  in  the  various  ports,  but 
this  difference  is  apparently  due  to  differences  in  administration 
and  the  ideals  underlying  the  organization  of  the  port.  A  discus- 
sion later  of  the  organization  and  administration  of  ports  will  be 
quite  relevant  to  our  inquiry. 

One  other  basis  of  comparison  is  available,  and  that  is,  the 
growth  in  population  of  the  city  of  the  port.  For  the  more  active 
and  efficient  the  port,  the  larger  the  opportunity  for  manufacture 
and  trade,  and  hence  the  larger  the  invitation  for  a  city  population. 

The  case  of  London  in  this  comparison  is  the  most  striking  of 
them  all.  The  metropolis  of  a  rich  land,  with  the  prestige  of  cent- 
uries of  well  ordered  business,  the  population  has  grown  at  a  rapid 
and  surprisingly  uniform  rate  (Fig.  3).  New  York  shows  a  more 
rapid  increase  in  the  last  eighteen  years  than  any  other  port, 
and  this  growth  is  commensurate  with  its  increase  in  traffic. 
The  growth  of  Chicago  as  compared  with  New  York  is  somewhat 


disappointing.  We  are  not  living  up  to  our  opportunities,  either 
in  traffic,  or  in  growth  in  numbers.  New  York  has  her  network 
of  railways  just  as  Chicago  has,  but  has  also  her  marvelous  ocean 
traffic,  which  Chicago  may  some  day  have,  but  has  not  yet  achieved. 
The  case  of  Liverpool  is  quite  instructive.  While  the  popula- 
tion of  New  York  in  the  last  38  years  has  quadrupled,  the  popula- 
tion of  Liverpool  has  only  doubled.  But  that  is  because  Liverpool 
has  been  content  to  serve  merely  as  a  gateway  to  the  rich  hinter- 


POPULATION  OF  PORT  CITIES 


Fig.  3.     Map  showing  the  population  of  selected  port 
cities,  through  a  period  of  years. 

land  of  the  Midlands.  But  little  attention  has  been  paid  to  the 
development  of  manufacture,  which  the  advantages  of  the  port 
would  warrant.  Hamburg,  with  a  curve  quite  similar  to  that  of 
Liverpool,  makes  a  much  more  creditable  showing,  for  in  1866 
Hamburg  was  only  a  river  village.  In  the  one  generation  since 
then  the  port  has  risen  to  third  in  rank  in  all  the  world,  on  the 
basis  of  tonnage,  surpassing  London,  and  with  every  promise  of 
holding  the  vantage  won.  Hamburg  is  now  making  vigorous  effort 

10 


to  establish  manufactures  in  the  port,  and  it  will  not  be  long  be- 
fore the  city  in  population  will  rank  above  that  of  Liverpool,  as 
her  traffic  for  some  years  has  done. 

An  Economic  Interpretation  of  a  Few  Great  Ports 

It  will  be  helpful  as  a  basis  for  the  understanding  of  our  own 
port,  and  its  possibilities,  to  make  a  somewhat  careful  examination 
of  some  of  the  world's  leading  ports.  For  convenience  we  may 
study  each  port: 

(1)  With  reference  to  the  hinterland  it  serves; 

(2)  As  to  organization  and  administration; 

(3)  As  to  port  facilities  for  handling  traffic; 

(4)  As   related   to   inland   systems   of  transportation,   street, 
railway  and  waterway. 

The  English  Midlands 

Let  us  take  first  the  ports  serving  the  English  Midlands.  The 
bank  account  of  British  Industry  is  her  magnificent  resource  of 


COflL 


Fig.  4.     The  midlands  and  the 
coal  fields  of  England. 

coal.  This  is  the  force  which  turns  the  spindles,  forges  the  steel, 
and  converts  the  raw  products  of  half  the  earth  into  the  manu- 
factured articles  of  high  value  for  the  markets  of  all  the  world. 

11 


It  is  the  coal  of  the  Midlands  (see  Fig.  4)  which  calls  for  the  ores 
of  Spain,  the  lumber  of  Canada  and  Africa,  and  the  wheat  and 
meat  of  America  and  the  Argentine  to  feed  the  working  millions. 
So  trade  in  great  volume  flows  to  and  from  the  Midlands  rich  in 
coal.  The  natural  ports  for  this  region  are  in  the  river  mouths 
draining  the  area  and  the  ports  in  active  competition  for  the  busi- 
ness of  the  region  are  Liverpool,  Manchester,  Hull,  Newcastle,  and 
Bristol,  with  London  reaching  long  arms  after  a  share  of  the 
traffic. 

Liverpool 

The  most  important  of  these  ports  is  Liverpool.  Situated  on 
the  estuary  at  the  mouth  of  the  River  Mersey,  Liverpool  is  the 
logical  gateway  of  the  western  half  of  the  Midlands.  It  also  reaps 
the  advantage  of  being  on  the  side  of  England  next  to  America, 
from  which  the  cotton  has  come  for  the  spinners  of  Lancashire, 
and  from  which  the  food  has  largely  come  for  the  manufacturing 
population. 

While  the  estuary  furnishes  an  ample  anchorage  protected  from 
the  winds  and  violence  of  the  open  sea,  and  in  so  far  was  a  natural 
harbor,  it  is  very  heavily  handicaped,  in  opening  directly  toward 
the  advancing  tidal  wave  of  the  Atlantic.  This  gives  a  tidal  range 
of  31  feet,  and  makes  the  problem  of  shifting  sand  bars  an  ex- 
tremely difficult  one  to  face.  Yet  the  advantage  of  position  is  so 
great,  and  the  organization  of  the  port  authority  so  effective  that 
the  difficulties  have  been  met,  and  a  port  developed  which  in  many 
respects  has  no  peer  on  earth.  This  success  is  mainly  attributable 
to  the  form  of  organization  and  method  of  administration  of  the 
port,  and  it  will  be  worth  our  while  to  give  a  somewhat  detailed 
account  of  the  port  administration  in  this  case. 

The  Port  Administration.  Prior  to  the  year  1857  the  docks 
and  works  in  connection  therewith  on  the  Liverpool  side  of  the 
Mersey  were  under  the  control  of  a  Dock  Committee,  subject  to 
the  Town  Council  of  Liverpool.  The  docks  on  the  Birkenhead 
side  of  the  river  had  been  managed  by  a  private  company,  but  later 
had  been  acquired  by  the  city  of  Liverpool.  By  the  Mersey  Docks 
and  Harbour  Act  of  1857  the  control  and  management  of  all  the 
docks  at  Liverpool  and  Birkenhead  become  vested  in  a  Public  Trust 
called  "The  Mersey  Docks  and  Harbour  Board."  This  Board  con- 
sists of  twenty-eight  members,  of  whom  four  are  appointed  by  the 
Crown,  and  twenty-four  are  elected  by  the  dock  ratepayers.  The 
term  of  membership,  whether  by  appointment  or  election,  is  four 

12 


years,  with  privilege  of  re-appointment  or  re-election.  The  mem- 
bers elected  by  the  Dock  Ratepayers  must  reside  within  the  customs 
port  of  Liverpool,  or  within  10  miles  of  the  outward  boundary  of 
the  Borough.  A  candidate  "must  pay  to  the  Board  within  the  year 
immediately  preceding  his  election,  rates  in  respect  of  ships  or  goods 
of  not  less  than  .£25."  Members  receive  no  remuneration. 

The  qualification  of  an  elector  is  the  payment,  without  regard 
to  the  place  in  which  his  business  is  carried  on,  of  rates  on  ships 


Fig.  5.     The  Mersey  Estuary  and  the  channel  across  the  bar. 

or  goods,  of  not  less  and  £10  in  the  year  preceding  the  election. 
He  must  be  a  British  subject,  or  if  a  foreigner  be  resident  in  the 
United  Kingdom  and  his  name  must  be  on  the  list  of  dock  electors. 
There  is  only  one  vote  for  each  member  to  be  elected,  and  there  is 
no  voting  by  proxy. 

No  member  may  hold  any  office  or  place  of  profit  under  the 
Board,  or  may  participate  in  the  profits  of  any  work  done  by  the 

13 


Board,  or  in  any  contract  entered  into  by  the  Board.  Exceptions 
to  this  are  made  in  the  case  of  water  or  gas  or  lands  supplied  to 
the  Board  by  sale  or  lease,  or  money  loaned  to  the  Board.  But 
on  any  such  transaction  a  member  may  not  vote. 

The  Board  being  a  corporate  body,  holds  property  and  trans- 
acts business  like  any  other  individual,  under  -  regulations  pre- 
scribed by  Parliament.  All  the  property  of  the  Board  is  considered 
as  one  estate  and  is  managed  as  such.  Taxes  are  paid  upon  this 
estate  on  the  basis  of  income,  just  as  in  the  case  of  any  private 
person  or  business.  The  Board  raises  capital  funds  by  borrowing 
on  bond  issues,  on  the  security  of  its  income,  and  lays  aside  a, 
sinking  fund  to  retire  these  bonds.  This  form  of  organization 
has  given  the  maximum  of  independence  to  the  Board.  It  has  al- 
ways had  funds  enough  and  it  spends  on  its  own  judgment,  with- 
out let  or  hindrance.  No  greater  freedom  is  possible  anywhere, 
and  all  evidence  goes  to  show  that  its  powers  have  been  used  with 
great  wisdom  and  discretion  for  the  good  of  the  port. 

The  Board  has  an  absolute  monopoly  in  the  port.  It  has  power 
to  license  and  regulate  pilots,  and  fix  pilotage  rates ;  to  impose  and 
collect  dues  on  goods  handled  to  or  from  the  town  or  country  be- 
yond; and  to  fix  rates  and  fees  on  ships  for  use  of  harbor,  dock, 
berths,  quays  and  equipment.  The  Board  lights  the  harbor  and 
the  estuary,  and  at  an  enormous  cost  for  dredging,  has  converted 
what  was  originally  "a  creek  of  the  port  of  Chester,"  into  one  of 
the  most  important  ports  in  the  world,  with  a  35  foot  channel  at  low 
water,  out  across  the  bar. 

The  Board  elects  its  chairman,  and  delegates  work  to  com- 
mittees. It  meets  regularly  every  Thursday,  and  most  of  the  com- 
mittees have  weekly  meetings.  Though  no  salaries  are  paid  to 
members,  the  most  earnest  service  is  rendered.  There  is  a  very 
considerable  corps  of  paid  officials:  the  general  manager  and  sec- 
retary, engineer,  solicitor,  treasurer,  harbor  master  and  assistants, 
accountants,  receivers,  auditors,  marine  surveyors,  bailiffs,  police, 
inspectors,  watchmen,  laborers,  etc.,  a  small  army  in  all. 

It  will  be  instructive  to  see  in  some  detail  how  the  Board  ac- 
quires and  spends  its  income.  The  fiscal  year  closes  July  1,  and 
Parliament  requires  the  publication  of  a  detailed  account  of  receipts 
and  expenditures.  This  report  is  issued  very  promptly  and  is  a 
model  of  its  kind.  Power  to  borrow  on  bond  issue  has  been 
granted  by  various  Parliamentary  acts  from  1859  to  1906,  and 
bonds  have  been  issued  at  various  rates  of  interest  from  4^  per 

14 


cent  to  as  low  as  2^   per  cent.      The    total    borrowing    power 
granted  up  to  July  1,  1907,  was: — 

Amount  authorized   £31,886,695-  2-10 

Amount    borrowed    24,559,817-14-  2 


Balance,  power  unused £  7,326,877-  8-10 

The  total  amount  expended  by  the  Board  from  1859  to  July  1, 
1907,  was  £29,990,150  -0  -8,  or  about  $150,000,000.  The  amount 
set  aside  for  the  sinking  fund  account  in  1906-7  was  a  half  million 
dollars.  During  the  same  year  the  engineering  work  cost  over 
$1,000,000.  The  table  of  general  receipts  and  expenditures  for 
the  year  will  be  instructive : — 

Mersey  Docks  and  Harbour  Board — Statement  of  General 
Receipts  and    Expenditures — Year 

Ending  July  1,  1907 
DR. 

To    interest    £  904,799-12-  6 

Engineers'   Dept 233,934-  2-  8 

Harbor  Master's  account   46,969-14-10 

Dock  Traffic  Dept.,  Ry.,  Weighing,  etc..  152,439-  8-  1 

Police  expenses    45,562-16-  2 

General  charges   97,857-16-10 

Parliamentary  and  law  expenses 1,992-16-10 

Rates  and  taxes    91,484-  4-  7 

Fire   insurance  and  depreciation  of  vessels  77,979-16-  1 

Grant  to  Conservancy  Acct.  dredging...  6,600-  0-  0 


£1,659,620-  8-  7 
Balance — 

Amount  carried  to  sinking 

fund    £100,000-  0-  0 

To  unappropriated  receipts 

account      32,561-15-  4 

132,561-15-  4 


Total    £1,792,182-  3-11 

CR.. 

By  rates  and  dues £1,359,026-  3-  3 

By  rents  of  property   .  . .        164,210-  6-  9 
By    Dock    Traffic    Dept., 

Ry.,    etc 184,663-14-  1 

£1,707,900-  4-  1' 

By  warehouses  surplus..  84.281-19-10 


Total     £1,792.182-  3-11 

15 


And  a  further  analysis  of  the  one  big  item  of  income,  Rates  and 
Dues,  will  not  be  amiss. 

General  Receipts,  Year  Ending  July  1,  1907 
CR. 

By  Rates  and  Dues — 

Rates  received  on  vessels: 

Dock  tonnage  rates    £    699,105-19-10 

Graving  dock,  and  gridiron  rates.  .. .          40,292-  0-  9 
Dock  rent 7,931-  3-10 

Rates  and  dues  received  on  goods: 

Dock  rates   369,875-  7-  9 

Town  dues  .  314,702-18-  2 


Less    dock    tonnage    rates    applicable    to 

Conservancy   Acct 73,022-18-1 


Total    £1,358,884-12-  3 

This  handsome  revenue  of  nearly  $7,000,000  is  the  culminat- 
ing term  in  a  long  record  of  gradual  growth  almost  entirely  free 
from  retrograde  steps.  The  figures  are  available  for  every  year 
since  1752.  Charted  (Fig.  6),  we  can  see  at  a  glance,  the  phenom- 
enal development  of  this  port.  With  the  introduction  of  iron  ships 
the  business  of  the  port  went  up  with  a  bound.  The  depression  of  the 
American  Civil  War  is  very  conspicuous.  Too  much  prosperity 
brought  the  agitation  for  a  canal  to  Manchester  and  a  reduction  in 
charges,  lowering  the  income  and  flattening  out  the  curve.  But 
since  1900  the  old  rate  of  increase  has  been  resumed. 

The  dues  and  charges  in  this  port  are  very  high,  but  since  this 
is  the  common  practice  all  over  Britain,  it  is  a  difficulty  the  shipper 
and  merchant  can  not  evade.  It  is  established  custom.  The  gen- 
eral government  practically  turns  over  its  powers  to  the  port.  It 
neither  lights  nor  buoys  nor  dredges  the  harbor  or  channel  out  to 
sea.  All  the  prodigious  work  of  making  a  port  in  the  teeth  of  a 
tidal  range  of  31  feet,  and  the  silting  of  the  estuary,  and  the  shift- 
ing sands  on  the  submerged  delta,  has  fallen  upon  this  unaided  cor- 
poration. Not  a  dollar  has  come  from  government  nor  from  the 
city.  By  the  method  of  selection  the  members  of  the  Board  are 
the  most  alert  and  able  business  men  of  the  region.  Men  whose 
daily  lives  are  devoted  to  business  which  is  dependent  upon  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  port,  and  whose  business  success  is  part  of  the 
success  of  the  port  management.  On  every  hand  in  Liverpool  one 
hears  the  highest  praise  for  the  Board.  In  business  it  is  considered 
the  highest  honor  a  man  may  earn  to  be  given  a  seat  on  the  Board. 

16 


One  gentleman  described  the  honor  as  so  much  coveted  that  a  well 
advised  young  man  would  shape  every  act  from  his  first  day  in 
the  business  world  with  reference  to  this  possible  future  goal. 
Though  no  remuneration  of  any  kind  is  given  for  service,  there  is 
seldom  a  vacant  seat  at  the  weekly  meetings  of  the  Board. 

The  paid  officials  are  of  the  highest  type.  The  position  of 
general  manager  is  as  responsible  as  the  presidency  of  one  of  our 
greatest  railways,  and  requires  as  rare  ability.  The  chief  engineer 
has  problems  as  difficult  to  handle  as  are  met  with  in  the  science. 
Such  able  men,  tried  and  proved,  hold  their  positions  indefinitely, 


INCOME  FRQMVE55ELS  AND  GOODS 
ATTHE  PORT  OF  LIVERPOOL 


Fig.  6.     The  earnings  of  the  Port  of  Liverpool,  1760-1907. 

at  the  pleasure  of  the  Board.  The  present  general  manager,  Miles 
Kirk  Burton,  Esq.,  a  man  of  superb  efficiency,  has  held  his  position 
for  a  generation.  The  chief  engineer,  Anthony  George  Lyster, 
Esq.,  a  man  of  the  highest  ability,  grew  up  in  the  problems  of  the 
harbor,  his  father  before  him  being  chief  engineer  for  a  long  term 
of  years.  Mr.  Lyster  is  putting  into  commission  at  the  present 
time  a  monster  sand  pump  dredge,  which  will  lift  10,000  tons  of 
sand  in  50  minutes  into  its  own  hold,  and  steam  out  to  sea  and 
scuttle  its  load.  This  dredge,  more  than  twice  as  large  as  the  next 
largest  in  the  world  is  only  an  incident  in  the  problem  of  maintain- 

17 


ing  a  channel  across  the  bar  so  that  the  largest  Atlantic  liners  may 
make  their  port  at  any  stage  of  tide.  Liverpool  is  the  home  port 
of  the  great  Cunarders,  Mauretania  and  Lusitania.  There  are  only 
three  or  four  ports  in  the  world  that  can  take  boats  of  this  size, 
and  yet  the  far  sighted  gentlemen  of  the  Mersey  Docks  and  Har- 
bour Board  see  plainly  that  there  will  be  larger  boats  yet.  And 
as  an  illustration  of  the  simplicity  and  freedom  of  the  organization 
of  such  a  board,  it  will  be  instructive  to  see  how  easily  a  great  im- 
provement is  undertaken.  Discussing  the  growth  of  commerce,  the 
need  of  a  larger  dock  was  seen.  The  engineer  provided  plans  and 
estimates,  which  after  mature  deliberation  were  approved,  and  with- 
out asking  the  permission  or  approval  or  support  of  anybody,  ex- 
cept a  parliamentary  permit  for  general  harbor  improvement,  an 
extension  was  voted  April  30,  1907  to  provide  a  dock  with  berths 
for  four  ships  at  once,  with  lengths  up  to  1,100  feet,  and  120  feet 
beam ;  and  with  quays,  sheds,  railway  tracks,  and  driveways  accom- 
panying —  involving  an  expenditure  of  $16,000,000.  So  when  the 
larger  ships  arrive,  Liverpool  will  have  room  and  welcome  for  them. 

This  freedom  in  organization  has  resulted  in  a  port  of  the 
highest  excellence  in  plan,  construction,  and  management.  The  31 
feet  range  of  tide  makes  it  necessary  to  provide  docks  with  locks 
and  gates,  which  will  let  ships  enter  with  the  sea  at  any  level,  and 
give  berthage  in  docks  and  basins,  with  water  at  a  fixed  level.  Such 
gates  are  enoromously  expensive,  nearly  one  half  the  cost  of  the 
latest  $16,COO,000  extension  being  in  the  gates.  Moreover  it  is  the 
practice  of  the  Board  to  make  all  construction  of  the  most  durable 
sort;  quay  walls  of  masonry,  or  concrete,  and  coping  of  granite; 
sheds  of  steel,  or  brick,  or  concrete,  with  slate  or  tile  roof.  Every- 
thing is  fire  proof,  and  built  for  all  time.  Landing  for  ferries  and 
Atlantic  liners  is  affected  at  any  stage  of  tide  by  great  floating 
piers,  connected  with  the  shore  by  inclined  bridges.  The  main 
landing  stage  at  Liverpool  where  the  transatlantic  liners  embark 
or  disembark  passengers  is  2,478  feet  long,  with  eight  bridges  con- 
necting it  with  the  shore.  Here  the  railway  comes  to  the  water's 
edge  and  passengers  and  their  baggage  are  transferred  under  cover 
directly  from  ship  to  boat  or  vice  versa.  For  loading  or  unloading 
freight,  the  vessels  must  be  locked  in  or  out  of  the  docks. 

Under  such  conditions  each  unit  of  dock  space  is  worked  as 
efficiently  as  possible,  and  docks  and  basins  are  no  larger  than  is 
necessary  to  do  the  work  of  the  port.  On  January  1,  1908,  there 
were  in  Liverpool  53  docks  and  16  dry  docks,  and  in  Birkenhead, 
8  docks  and  3  dry  docks.  The  total  water  area  of  the  docks  and 

18 


basins  in  Liverpool  and  Birkenhead  was  583  acres  1,115  yards,  with 
a  lineal  quayage  of  36  miles  255  yards.  The  total  area  of  the  Dock 
Estate,  exclusive  of  undeveloped  fore-shore  was  \677l/2  acres.  Up- 
on this  estate  the  government  assessment  as  a  basis  for  the  income 
tax  is  £940,000  a  year,  that  is,  the  government  assumes  that  the 
Board's  annual  income  is  $4,700,000. 

In  addition  to  supplying  docks  and  sheds,  the  Board  has  many 
warehouses  for  various  sorts  of  goods,  where  stocks  may  lie  for 
almost  any  length  of  time,  the  merchant  paying  storage.  The  new 
tobacco  warehouse  at  Stanley  Dock  is  723  feet  by  165  feet,  and  13 
stories  high.  It  is  of  brick,  with  steel  beams  and  posts  and  con- 
crete floor.  It  has  a  capacity  of  66,000  hogsheads  of  tobacco,  and 
a  great  deal  of  tobacco  lies  in  storage  for  years  before  being  used. 
There  are  other  great  warehouses  for  salt,  grain,  wool,  hides,  oil, 
etc.,  and  from  all  these  the  Board  derives  an  income. 

Another  source  of  income  is  in  the  carting  of  goods  from  the 
quay  to  the  railway,  or  the  reverse.  In  Liverpool  the  most  con- 
spicuous feature  of  the  work  of  the  docks  is  that  everything  with 
the  exception  of  coal  and  bulk  oil,  is  handled  to  and  from  the  ship 
on  horse  drawn  drays,  or  "lurries"  as  they  are  called.  In  1901  it 
was  estimated  that  over  90  per  cent  of  the  total  traffic  of  the  port 
was  handled  by  these  horse  carts.  And  even  so  the  charge  for 
handling  was  very  low,  only  a  shilling  a  ton,  while  in  London  where 
railway  carriage  is  much  more  in  use,  the  cost  of  handling  ran  to 
several  times  that.  In  Liverpool  since  1901  there  has  been  a  rapid 
extension  of  railway  tracks  to  serve  sheds  and  quays,  all  the  newer 
installations  providing  for  the  transfer  of  goods  to  and  from  the  car 
direct.  These  tracks  are  built  and  owned  by  the  Board,  and  a 
number  of  switching  engines  are  provided  also  by  the  Board  to 
handle  the  cars  in  and  out.  The  total  railway  trackage  on  the 
estate  in  June,  1908,  was  80  miles.  Xo  charges  are  made  for  the  use 
of  these  tracks,  and  under  special  stress  the  locomotives  of  the 
great  railway  systems  bring  in  or  take  out  trains  through  the  Dock 
Estate. 

Inland  transportation  between  Liverpool  and  the  hinterland  is 
almost  wholly  done  by  the  railways.  There  is  a  canal  connecting 
with  the  network  of  canals  of  the  Midlands,  but  it  plays  but  a  sorry 
part  in  the  total  traffic  of  the  port.  The  rise  of  Manchester  as  a 
sea  port,  has  practically  canceled  what  might  otherwise  have  been 
a  considerable  barge  traffic  up  the  Mersey,  for  with  the  canal  in  op- 
eration vessels  go  to  their  dock  at  Manchester  and  intervening 
points  without  lightering. 

19 


Manchester 

The  case  of  Manchester  is  intensely  interesting  and  full  of  sig- 
nificance for  us  in  Chicago.  For  Manchester  is  an  example  of  a 
seaport  created  to  order.  An  example  of  whole  hearted  and  in- 
tense battle  on  the  part  of  a  community  to  be  free  of  railway  and 
other  impositions  upon  her  commerce.  The  men  of  Manchester 
felt  that  too  large  a  toll  was  levied  at  Liverpool  and  other  ports, 
upon  the  cotton  and  sugar  and  timber  and  other  commodities 
brought  in,  and  upon  the  manufactures  shipped  out. 

Manchester  is  the  focus  of  the  vast  cotton  interests  of  Lan- 
cashire, Derby  and  York,  one  of  the  busiest  parts  of  the  midlands. 
In  the  Manchester  Exchange  there  are  representatives  of  177  towns, 
eleven  of  which  have  each  a  population  of  100,000  or  over.  The  city 
is  more  like  Chicago  in  its  rush  and  grime  and  the  magnitude  of  its 
undertakings  than  any  other  city  in  Britain.  The  Manchester  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  is  a  body  of  men  the  peer  of  such  bodies  anywhere. 
It  was  the  vigorous  activity  of  this  chamber,  and  of  the  Manchester 
Commercial  Association,  more  than  anything  else,  which  was  instru- 
mental in  compelling  the  establishment  of  the  Public  Port  Trust  in 
Liverpool  in  1857,  taking  the  matter  out  of  the  hands  of  the  City  of 
Liverpool.  By  1880  they  realized  that  they  were  not  getting  the 
advantages  in  transportation  they  were  entitled  to,  so  they  began  an 
agitation  for  a  ship  canal,  which  should  make  their  own  town  a  sea- 
port of  the  first  rank.  The  entire  city  came  to  the  support  of  the 
venture  and  subscribed  liberally  to  the  fund  necessary  to  go  to 
Parliament  for  powers.  The  problem  was  infinitely  difficult.  For 
to  get  an  enabling  act  with  powers  adequate  they  had  to  do  battle 
royal  with  all  the  railways  in  the  region,  with  all  the  shipping  inter- 
ests of  Liverpool,  with  all  the  land  owners  along  the  35^2  miles  of 
the  canal  route,  with  various  small  towns  with  rights  in  waterways 
which  would  be  changed,  and  with  every  other  vested  interest  which 
could  be  brought  to  bear  against  them.  Twice  they  were  defeated 
in  Parliament  by  the  vested  interests,  but  the  third  time  they  won, 
and  it  cost  $750,COO  to  get  past  Parliament.  It  should  be  food  for 
thought  in  America  that  in  all  this  parliamentary  warfare  not  one 
whisper  or  suspicion  of  graft  or  unfair  play  was  ever  raised  on 
either  side.  The  bill  provided  an  organization  which  is  somewhat 
anomalous  in  port  administration,  that  of  a  stock  company — the 
Manchester  Ship  Canal  Company — the  stockholders  choosing  the 
officers  and  determining  the  policies.  But  the  purpose  was  avowedly 
to  serve  the  common  good ;  not  to  work  for  profit,  but  to  establish 

20 


fair  play  in  the  handling  of  goods  to  and  from  the  city.  In  effect 
it  was  a  public  trust  seeking  the  same  powers  as  the  Docks  and 
Harbor  Board  at  Liverpool.  When,  August  6,  1885,  their  bill  be- 
came a  law,  their  stocks  were  subscribed  by  a  patriotic  public  to  the 
extent  of  nearly  $50,000,000,  and  work  was  begun.  But  the  engineer- 
ing difficulties  and  costs  were  greater  than  could  be  foreseen,  and 
the  company  was  compelled  to  ask  the  Corporation  of  Manchester 
to  come  to  their  assistance  with  a  loan.  The  city  furnished  the  loan, 
and  later  another,  a  total  of  $25,000,000.  But  the  canal  was  not 
opened  for  traffic  to  Manchester  until  November,  1893,  and  with  no 
earnings  the  interest  on  the  city  loans  fell  into  arrears,  and  a  new 
obligation  of  over  $5,000,000  was  incurred  for  interest.  The  city 
then  demanded  and  obtained  representation  on  the  board  of  directors, 
so  that  the  directorate  now  stands : 

10  elected  by  the  shareholders. 

11  appointed  by  the  Manchester  Corporation. 
Shareholders  have  one  vote  for  each  share  up  to  10;  one  extra 

for  each  additional  5  shares  up  to  100 ;  and  one  extra  for  every  10 
beyond.  The  chairman  is  chosen  by  his  colleagues  from  amongst 
the  ten  directors  elected  by  the  shareholders.  The  shareholder 
directors  hold  office  for  three  years  and  are  eligible  for  re-election. 
The  corporation  directors  are  chosen  by  the  city  council,  the  term  of 
office  limited  to  the  term  for  which  they  are  elected  to  the  council — 
aldermen  six  years,  councillors  three  years. 

The  chairman  of  the  company  devotes  the  whole  of  his  time 
to  the  affairs  of  the  company  and  is  remunerated  accordingly.  In 
addition  to  this  $10,000  per  year  is  distributed  pro  rata  amongst  the 
remaining  directors  according  to  attendance. 

Thus  at  the  present  the  control  is  dominantly,  though  indirectly, 
municipal.  The  Canal  Company  is  now  paying  all  interest,  and  will 
soon  be  paying  off  the  city  loan.  When  this  shall  be  reduced  to 
$12,500,000,  the  city  will  appoint  seven  directors  only;  and  when 
the  debt  is  all  paid,  the  directorate  will  be  reduced  to  15,  two  of 
which  shall  be  appointed  by  the  city  corporation. 

It  was  a  gigantic  venture  to  bring  a  channel  290  to  370  feet  in 
width  at  the  top  and  120  to  170  feet  at  bottom  and  26  feet  deep 
from  the  sea  35^2  miles  into  the  land,  and  lift  it  sixty  feet  and  six 
inches.  Forty-six  hundred  acres  of  land  had  to  be  bought,  at  a  cost 
of  $6,435,025,  and  the  Bridgewater  Canal,  which  crossed  the  right 
of  way,  and  another  canal,  the  Mersey  and  Irwell  Navigation,  had 
to  be  bought  at  a  cost  of  over  $6,000,000.  Five  railway  crossings 
were  provided  with  high  level  bridges,  75  feet  in  the  clear,  ap- 

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preaches  graded  to  1  in  135.  The  total  excavation  was  over  51,000,- 
000  cubic  yards,  or  over  half  that  of  the  Suez  Canal.  The  magni- 
tude of  the  undertaking  may  be  seen  by  a  statement  of  the  capital 
created  by  the  company : 

Capital  Created  by  the  Manchester  Canal  Company 

To  June  30,   1907. 

Manchester  Ship  Canal  Acts  1885-6 £  9,812,000 

Manchester  Chip  Canal  Acts  1890    600,000 

Manchester  Ship  Canal  Acts  1891    3,000,000 

Manchester  Ship  Canal  Acts  1893    2,000,000 

Manchester  Ship   Canal  Acts   1897    100,000 

Manchester  Ship  Canal  Acts   1904 1,572,281 


Total   capital    £17,084,281 

When  Chicago  made  the  drainage  canal  it  was  a  great  under- 
taking and  all  the  world  heard  of  it.  But  Manchester,  with  only  a 
fraction  of  the  population  or  wealth  of  Chicago,  has  raised  over 
$85,000,000,  which  is  considerably  more  than  the  investment  of  our 
great  canal.  Upon  the  capital  created  by  loans  and  debenture  stock, 
$50,000,000  is  at  3  1-5  per  cent;  $15,590,000  at  3^  per  cent,  and 
$10,980,000  at  4  per  cent.  This  burden  is  now  being  carried,  and  it 
is  expected  that  this  year  a  small  dividend  will  be  paid  upon  com- 
mon stock.  The  semi-annual  meetings  of  the  directors  are  held  in 
the  Town  Hall,  and  are  occasions  of  very  great  local  interest.  A 
public  statement  is  there  made  of  the  half  year's  business  and  of  the 
financial  status  of  the  company.  As  in  Liverpool,  the  itemized 
accounts  of  the  year's  receipts  and  disbursements  are  public  property. 

The  Manchester  Ship  Canal  Company  was  organized  with  the 
advantage  of  the  knowledge  of  a  century's  experience  in  expansion 
in  the  ports  of  Britain.  It  is  very  instructive  to  notice  that  from  the 
first  the  plan  was  for  a  complete  monopoly  of  the  business  of  the 
port.  There  was  complete  freedom  within  the  common  restrictions 
imposed  by  Parliament  upon  all  ports,  in  assessment  and  collection 
of  dues  and  fees.  The  docks,  piers,  wharves,  quays,  sheds,  ware- 
houses, railway  tracks,  locomotives,  cars,  lurries,  motor  trucks, 
cranes,  pipes,  chutes,  legs,  shears,  floats,  tugs,  scows,  barges,  lighters, 
pontoons,  flats  and  all  the  other  devices  used  in  handling  the  freight 
to  and  from  the  ships  are  owned  and  worked  by  the  company.  Ves- 
sels are  loaded  or  unloaded  by  the  owners  of  the  cargo  if  they  wish, 
and  if  not,  by  the  company,  but  the  work  is  done  almost  wholly  by 
the  company.  The  labor  situation  is  much  improved  by  having  but 

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one  employer  in  the  port.  It  is  possible  to  increase  tha  number  of 
men  given  continuous  work  through  the  year,  so  reducing  the  num- 
ber of  casual  laborers  so  much  a  problem  in  all  the  ports  of  the 
world.  Hence  the  quality  of  labor  is  kept  at  a  much  higher  level, 
and  strikes  are  almost  unknown. 

As  is  usual  in  Britain  and  the  continent,  the  quality  of  con- 
struction is  high.  Quay  walls  are  of  masonry  or  concrete,  faced 
with  vitrified  paving  brick  and  coped  with  great  blocks  of  granite. 
Sheds  are  wide,  of  brick,  or  better,  of  ferro-concrete,  the  best  type 
being  four  or  five  stories  high,  the  roof  flat  and  of  concrete,  carrying 
the  traveling  cranes,  and  available  for  storage  of  lumber,  casks  or 
other  goods  which  can  stand  the  weather.  The  cranes  are  electric, 
either  on  the  roof  or  on  the  tracks  on  the  quay,  and  are  most  efficient. 
Railway  tracks  are  provided  on  every  quay  for  direct  loading  or  un- 
loading— tracks  also  through  the  sheds  to  be  served  from  the  sorting 
floors.  The  company  owns  its  own  cars  and  locomotives  and  does 
its  own  switching  and  has  ample  siding  yards  where  trains  are  made 
up.  In  case  the  railway  companies  are  too  slow  in  taking  away  the 
loaded  trains,  the  company  may  take  them  out  by  their  own  locomo- 
tives over  the  right  of  way  of  the  delinquent  company.  The  freight 
situation  is  controlled  by  the  company  absolutely. 

As  constructed,  26  feet  was  the  deepest  draft  permitted  in  the 
canal.  But  within  the  present  year  this  has  been  deepened  to  28 
feet  by  holding  in  two  feet  more  above  the  tide  gates  in  the  lower 
reach,  and  by  dredging  in  the  upper  reaches.  This  gives  a  cargo 
capacity  for  360  days  of  over  150,000,000  tons,  for  over  70  vessels  a 
day  can  pass  the  locks. 

All  this  prodigious  outlay  of  $85,000,000  and  over  was  made  by 
the  people  of  Manchester  and  vicinity  because  they  felt  that  the  port 
charges  at  Liverpool  were  too  high,  and  that  the  railway  charges 
between  Liverpool  and  Manchester  were  unjust.  "A  working  dis- 
trict as  big  as  a  small  nation  made  this  supreme  effort  in  a  deter- 
mination to  break  a  grinding  and  increasingly  indifferent  monopoly." 
Manchester  is  now  the  nearest  port  for  a  population  of  8,000,000 
people.  The  battle  is  won.  And  it  is  instructive  to  notice  what 
happened  to  freight  rates  so  soon  as  the  canal  was  assured.  I 
quote  from  the  evidence  of  Mr.  J.  K.  Bythell,  chairman  of  the 
Manchester  Ship  Canal  Company,  before  the  Royal  Commission  on 
Canals  and  Waterways,  the  67th  day,  Tuesday,  November  26,  1907 : 
(Minutes  of  Evidence,  p.  22.) 

"On  the  promotion  of  the  ship  canal  in  the  early  eighties  the 
following  reductions  in  the  class  rates  between  Liverpool  and  Man- 

25 


Chester  were  made  by  the  railway  companies :  Class  C,  from  7s  6d 
to  7s,  station  to  station ;  Class  1,  from  8s  4d  to  7s  lid ;  Class  2,  from 
10s  to  9s  2d;  Class  3,  from  11s  8d  to  10s  lOd;  Class  5  was  reduced 
from  17s  6d  to  17s  2d  in  1893  (the  year  before  the  ship  canal  was 
completed).  No  changes  were  made  in  the  rates  for  Classes  B  and 
4.  Reductions  were  also  made  in  the  exceptional  rates  in  the  early 
eighties  in  respect  of  important  articles:  Cotton  from  Liverpool  to 
Manchester  was  reduced  from  9s  to  7s  2d ;  cotton  goods  and  yarns 
for  export,  Manchester  to  Liverpool,  from  10s  to  8s,  collected  at 
Manchester;  timber,  Liverpool  to  Manchester,  from  7s  lid  to  6s  8d, 
in  two-ton  lots,  station  to  station.  The  rates  charged  as  above  stated 
are  in  operation  today.  Since  the  canal  was  opened  a  few  excep- 
tional rates  have  been  made  for  special  cases,  but  it  may  be  said  that 
the  rates  between  Manchester  and  Liverpool  have  practically  re- 
mained unchanged.  Between  Manchester  and  northern  European 
ports,  via  East  coast  ports,  there  has  been,  however,  a  large  reduc- 
tion in  the  combined  rail  and  steamer  rates.  This  is  where  the 
competition  is  the  keenest.  Before  the  ship  canal  was  opened  for 
traffic  the  charge  for  cotton  yarn  from  Manchester  to  Rotterdam 
was  32s  6d.  It  has  been  reduced  to  22s  lOd. 

"Machinery  in  parts,  packed  in  cases,  Manchester  to  Hamburg, 
has  been  reduced  from  27s  6d  to  17s  6d.  Sugar  from  Hamburg  to 
Manchester  has  been  reduced  from  21s  9d  to  12s  6d.  These  are 
typical  examples.  It  may  be  said  in  round  terms  that  the  rates  for 
other  articles  have  been  reduced  proportionately. 

"Some  of  the  Liverpool  dock  rates  have  also  been  considerably 
reduced  in  competition  with  the  ship  canal.  During  the  progress  of 
the  first  ship  canal  bill  in  Parliament,  the  dock  due  on  cotton  was 
reduced  from  3s  6d  to  3s  per  ton.  As  soon  as  the  port  of  Manches- 
ter began  to  draw  cotton  the  rate  was  reduced  to  2s.  As  soon  as 
Manchester  began  to  draw  grain,  the  following  reductions  were 
made:  The  dock  dues  on  heavy  grain  (wheat  and  maize)  were 
reduced  from  Is  4d  per  ton  to  Is  at  Liverpool  and  to  6d  at  Birken- 
head." 

The  Manchester  people  have  won  their  case,  but  it  has  required 
the  keenest  and  most  courageous  fighting.  After  they  began  to 
handle  freight  they  were  discriminated  against  by  the  railways,  and 
were  in  a  good  way  to  fail  for  lack  of  power  in  the  control  of  freight 
movement.  They  had  to  appeal  to  the  Railway  Commission  and 
try  a  case  in  court  before  they  could  get  recognition  from  the  rail- 
ways as  a  statutory  railway  company,  competent  to  make  rates. 
They  now  work  as  a  terminal  railway  and  negotiate  business  from 

26 


individual  shippers,  furnishing  them  through  rates  to  or  from  any 
point  on  earth,  every  expense  and  terminal  charge  included,  and 
they  can  demonstrate  a  cheaper  rate  in  the  region  they  serve  than 
the  shipper  can  get  via  Liverpool.  It  will  be  worth  our  while  to 
record  a  special  case  or  so  taken  from  the  books  of  the  canal  com- 
pany. 

(1)  December  4,  1907,  Shipment  of  Cotton,  Memphis,  Tenn., 
to  Oldham,  Eng.,  in  Gents  per  100  Pounds 

Via  Manchester 

Memphis-New  Orleans,  f.  o.  b.  S.  S 27.00 

New  Orleans-Liverpool  38.00 

Manchester-Oldham,  railway  and  all  port  charges.  .10.45 

75.45 
Via  Liverpool 

Memphis-New  Orleans,  f.  o.  b.  S.  S 27.00 

New  Orleans-Liverpool  38.00 

Liverpool  dock  and  town  dues 2.14 

Master  porter   1.25 

Cartage  to  railway  station 1.34 

Railway  Liverpool-Oldham    9.82 

79.55 

The  Liverpool  total  rate 79.55 

Minus  Manchester  total  rate..        ..75.45 


A  saving  of 4.10 

That  is,  the  spinner  at  Oldham  can  save  by  the  Manchester 
route  91.84c  per  ton  of  2,240  pounds.  But  this  is  not  all,  for  there 
is  a  forwarding  charge  at  Liverpool  of  25c  per  ton,  and  some  extra 
insurance. 

(2)  December  21,  1907—150  Bbl.  Cotton  Seed  Oil  Soap,  Nor- 
folk, Va.,  to  Manchester,  via  New  York — 
in  Cents  per  100  Pounds 

Via  Manchester 

Railway  Norfolk-New  York,  per  100  Ibs 12.00 

New   York-Manchester    16.88 

Manchester  Canal  dues   4.29 

Quay  porterage  (3  days)  dd.  to  cart 1.70 

Cartage  to  works 2.14 

Total    37.01 

27 


Via  Liverpool 

Railway  Norfolk-New  York,  per  100  Ibs 12.00 

New    York- Manchester    16.88 

Liverpool  dock  and  town  dues 1.875 

Master  porter  (shed,  etc.) 893 

Cartage  to  railway 1.340 

Railway  Liverpool-Manchester  8.040 

Cartage   to   works 2.140 


43.168 

This  shows  a  saving  of  6.158c  via  the  port  of  Manchester,  or 
$1.379  per  ton  of  2,240  pounds. 

It  may  seem  surprising  that  with  these  advantages  put  before  a 
merchant,  the  port  of  Manchester  does  not  at  once  take  the  lion's 
share  of  the  port  traffic  from  Liverpool.  But  there  are  reasons,  one 
of  which  when  stated  will  sound  very  familiar  to  American  ears. 
There  are  associations  in  Britain,  among  transportation  interests, 
called  shipping  rings.  A  Royal  Commission  has  been  investigating 
them.  During  the  first  three  days  of  the  hearings  a  year  ago  Mr. 
Langdon,  the  chairman  of  the  Manchester  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
was  on  the  stand,  and  testified  that  there  is  a  conference  of  Liver- 
pool steamship  lines  which  gives  rebates  to  shippers  at  the  end  of 
each  six  months,  provided  such  shippers  have  not  in  the  meantime 
patronized  any  vessel  going  to  points  served  by  ships  owned  by 
members  of  the  conference.  This  rebate  is  large  enough  to  make 
most  of  the  shippers  "be  good."  Further,  "the  cost  of  shipping 
goods  at  Manchester  amounts  to  six  shillings  per  ton  (two  shillings 
for  cartage  from  warehouse  to  docks  and  four  shillings  ship  canal 
toll).  The  cost  of  sending  these  goods  by  rail  to  Liverpool  and 
putting  them  on  board  is  ten  shillings  and  three  pence.  The  ships 
in  the  conference  are  compelled  to  charge  the  latter  sum,  whether 
the  goods  are  shipped  at  Manchester  or  Liverpool.  There  is,  there- 
fore, no  inducement  for  them  to  come  to  Manchester."  (Quoted 
from  a  paper  on  the  Manchester  Ship  Canal,  by  Prof.  J.  McFarlane 
of  the  Victoria  University  of  Manchester,  1908.) 

So  for  many  reasons  it  has  been  a  slow  business  to  build  up  a 
port  where  there  was  no  port  before.  When  at  first  the  ships  owned 
and  trading  at  Liverpool  would  not  come  to  Manchester,  the  mer- 
chants of  the  city  built  ships  of  their  own  and  established  lines  to 
America  and  Africa  and  South  America,  and  the  venture  was  a 
success.  There  are  now  seventy  large  steel  steamships  owned  by 
the  Manchester  merchants  plying  from  the  home  port. 


There  is  nothing  else  in  commerce  so  inert  as  the  place  of  a 
market.  The  cotton  market  is  in  Liverpool,  and  there  it  stays, 
though  the  spinning  is  done  in  the  Manchester  district.  It  is  only 
individual  spinners'  orders  that  come  to  Manchester.  But  other 
markets  are  coming.  The  port  is  now  the  first  mineral  oil  market 
in  the  kingdom.  The  tropical  fruit,  grain,  lumber  and  paper  stock 
markets  are  growing  rapidly.  The  following  tables  showing  growth 
in  the  traffic  of  the  port  will  be  valuable: 

Weight  of  Merchandise  Passing  Through  the  Ship  Canal* 

Tons. 

1894    925,659 

1895    1,358,875 

1896    1,826,237 

1897    2,065,815 

1898    2,595,585 

1899    2,778,108 

1900    3,060,516 

1901    2,942,393 

1902    3,418,059 

1903    3,846,895 

1904    3,917,578 

1905    4,253,354 

1906 4,700.924 

1907**    5,201,500 


*Manchester  Guardian,  December  31,  1907. 
**Partly  estimated. 

Manchester  Ship  Canal  Revenues 

(In  half  years.) 

1894  £  44,308 

53,593 


1899  124,183 


1895   63,037   1900  141,346 

74,437  149,484 


1896  81,214   1901  146,503 

101,116  163,009 


1897  97,330   1902  ' 166,603 

107,334  191,888 


1898  , 105,865   1903  189,422 

129,530  207,603 

29 


1904  198,548   1906  233,176 

219,495  265,661 


1905  208,745   1907*  248,333 

241,691 


*First  half  year. 

From  Manchester  Guardian,  December  31,  1907. 

The  annual  income,  which  has  crept  steadily  up  to  about  $2,500,- 
000,  shows  in  its  very  regular  increase  a  comfortable  promise  for 
the  future.  Viewed  as  a  stock  company  merely,  it  must  be  con- 
sidered a  success.  It  is  carrying  its  load,  including  a  sinking  fund, 
and  with  this  year  hopes  to  begin  payment  of  dividends  on  common 
stock.  It  has  accomplished  very  great  and  permanent  reductions  in 
the  freight  charges  for  the  traffic  of  the  region.  There  are  no  two 
opinions  about  its  success  among  the  people  of  Manchester.  The 
Manchester  Co-operative  Wholesale  Society  stated  officially  before 
the  canal  had  been  in  operation  eight  months  that  their  subscription 
of  $100,000  had  been  very  nearly  recovered  by  the  savings  in  freight 
rates.  This  company  had  an  annual  turn-over  in  1907  of  $470,000,- 
000,  and  in  each  semi-annual  report  writes  off  a  very  large  sum  as 
saved  by  the  canal. 

Two  other  specific  cases  will  be  valuable  as  object  lessons  for 
the  merchants  of  Chicago.  The  paper  mill  of  Chadwick  and  Taylor 
was  doing  business  in  Manchester  before  the  canal  came.  They 
paid  7-6  per  ton  on  paper  pulp  via  Liverpool.  Now  they  pay  3-6, 
a  saving  of  4-0,  or  $1.00  per  ton.  They  used  in  1907  43,000  tons 
of  pulp,  and  have  used  an  average  of  25,000  tons  per  year  for  the 
fourteen  years  the  canal  has  been  in  operation.  They  have  saved 
in  this  time,  because  of  the  canal,  $350,000. 

Rylands  &  Sons,  one  of  the  large  local  firms  in  the  manufacture 
and  sale  of  cotton  goods,  have  estimated  that  in  the  first  three  years 
the  canal  was  open  their  saving  in  freight  charges  was  $95,000.  At 
this  rate  this  one  firm  has  saved  since  the  canal  has  been  in  operation 
$1,330,000.  And  there  are  many  such  cases. 

It  would  be  very  interesting  to  compute  what  the  merchants  of 
Chicago  would  save  by  the  establishment  of  a  ship  canal  to  the  sea, 
by  way  of  Erie  canal,  or  Montreal  or  New  Orleans. 


30 


The  Tyne  Ports 

At  the  extreme  northeastern  end  of  the  rich  coal  bearing  Eng- 
lish midlands  the  river  Tyne  invites  a  series  of  harbors,  chief  of 
which  is  Newcastle,  one  of  the  oldest  ports  in  Britain.  The  river 
has  always  been  famous  for  its  export  of  coal,  though  now  it  is  sur- 
passed in  this  regard  by  Cardiff.  Most  of  the  coal  goes  to  the  other 
ports  of  Britain  and  of  Northwest  Europe.  The  river  has  the  sinu- 
osities of  old  age  entrenched  in  a  fairly  resistent  sandstone,  and  a 
recent  slight  crustal  depression  has  partly  drowned  the  young  valley. 
The  Tyne  is  about  the  size  of  the  Chicago  river,  the  channel  being 
only  250  feet  wide  at  Newcastle,  though  it  widens  to  700  feet  at 
Shields  harbor,  near  the  mouth.  The  effort  to  make  it  a  harbor  fit 
for  a  rapidly  growing  traffic  has  in  it  some  good  lessons  for  us  at 
Chicago. 

In  1850,  as  a  result  of  a  general  agitation  in  Britain  for  the 
improvement  of  ports,  a  parliamentary  act  transferred  the  con- 
servancy of  the  Tyne  from  the  city  of  Newcastle,  where  it  had  long 
been  vested,  to  "The  Tyne  Improvement  Commission,"  which  was  a 
public  trust,  though  differing  in  some  critical  points  from  the  more 
successful  later  trusts  on  the  Mersey  and  the  Clyde.  Without  going 
into  the  history  of  it,  the  trust  in  its  present  form  consists  of  32 
members,  derived  as  follows : 

Two  life  members  selected  by  the  Board  of  Trade  of  Newcastle. 

Fifteen  members  elected  annually  from  the  various  municipal 
corporations  on  the  Tyne,  as  follows: 

6  from  Newcastle. 

2  from  Gateshead. 

3  from  Tynemouth. 

3  from  South  Shields. 
1  from  Jarrow. 

Fifteen  members,  elected  tri-ennially  as  Dues  Payers'  repre- 
sentatives : 

5  by  the  Coal  Owners. 
5  by  Ship  Owners. 
5  by  Traders. 

This  on  the  face  of  it  gives  the  balance  of  power  to  business 
interests  directly  involved  in  the  harbor,  rather  than  to  the  more 
general  municipal  interests  of  the  towns.  But  there  are  further 
conditions  which  put  it  peculiarly  into  the  hands  of  the  business 
interests,  for  it  will  be  observed  the  representatives  of  the  towns 
are  elected  annually,  and  hence  are  subject  to  rather  rapid  change, 

31 


while  those  representing  business  interests  direct  hold  office  for  three 
years.  But  there  is  a  further  very  curious  advantage  given  to  the 
business  interests  in  the  privilege  of  plural  voting.  In  the  requisites 
for  dues  payers'  electors,  it  is  provided  that  every  coal  owner  ship- 
ping coal,  coke  or  cinders  during  the  preceding  year,  in  respect  of 
which  Tyne  dues  have  been  paid,  shall  have  one  vote  for  the  first 
10,000  tons,  and  one  vote  for  each  additional  25,000  tons  up  to  a 
maximum  of  18  votes.  Every  registered  ship  owner  has  one  vote 
for  the  first  100  net  register  tons  upon  which  dues  were  paid  during 
the  year,  and  one  vote  for  each  additional  250  tons  up  to  a  maximum 
of  18  votes.  In  a  similar  fashion,  traders  are  allowed  votes  up  to  a 
total  of  18.  At  an  election  of  members  to  the  commission,  an  elector 
may  vote  for  as  many  candidates  as  are  necessary  to  fill  vacancies, 
casting  all  his  votes  or  any  part  of  them  for  any  candidate  he  pleases. 

It  will  be  seen  that  by  this  process  members  are  chosen  by 
business  rather  than  by  business  men,  and  that  it  would  be  a  very 
simple  matter  for  large  interests  to  override  the  many  small  inter- 
ests in  the  choice  of  representatives,  and  in  the  policies  of  the  com- 
mission. 

The  Tyne  Improvement  Commission  has  jurisdiction  over  the 
river  from  the  piers  at  the  mouth  to  a  point  inland  \9l/2  miles,  or 
about  9  miles  up  beyond  Newcastle.  But,  unfortunately  for  the 
commission,  it  has  not  a  monopoly  of  the  business  of  the  port,  as  is 
the  case  on  the  Mersey  and  at  Manchester.  In  fact,  their  interest 
in  docks  and  wharves  is  a  minor  fraction  of  the  total  facilities  of  the 
river.  The  North  Eastern  Railway  alone  has  port  facilities  greater 
than  the  entire  equipment  of  the  commission.  This  divided  interest 
in  the  river  has  been  an  extremely  hard  matter  to  handle,  and  the 
wonder  is  that  the  river  has  been  so  well  developed.  The  Tyne  is  a 
crooked  river,  winding  between  high  banks,  and  it  has  had  to  be 
straightened  and  dug  out  bodily  at  very  great  cost.  This  expense 
has  fallen  entirely  on  the  commission,  without  help  from  city  or 
nation,  though  the  benefit  has  accrued  to  all  the  private  docks  and 
other  properties  along  the  river.  Since  1850  about  $85,000,000  has 
been  spent  on  the  harbor,  and  this  almost  wholly  in  making  and 
maintaining  a  channel,  very  little  for  docks  or  other  construction. 

The  gross  receipts  for  1907  were  £437,254,  or  about  $2,000,000, 
derived  largely  from  dues  of  one  kind  or  another;  river  tonnage, 
ballast  dues,  bridge  dues,  coal  and  coke  export  dues,  harbor  lights, 
buoys  and  beacon  dues,  mooring  dues,  Tyne  pier's  dues,  etc.  The 
net  register  tonnage  of  all  vessels,  coasting  and  oversea,  cleared 
outwards  in  1904  from  the  Tyne  ports  was  8,641,341,  which  places 

32 


the  river  fourth  in  the  list  of  British  ports.  The  population  of  the 
Tyneside  towns  has  risen  from  about  190,000  in  1851  to  600,000  in 
1901,  and  the  whole  region  is  growing  rapidly,  new  industries 
springing  up  on  every  hand. 

The  river  in  its  size  and  curves  and  character  of  improvement 
needed  reminds  us  very  much  of  our  own  local  situation.  But  the 
expenditure  of  over  $2,000,000  a  year  on  harbor  maintenance,  by 
a  population  only  one-fourth  that  of  Chicago,  should  be  food  for 
thought.  They  have  the  bridge  problem,  too.  The  old  high-level 
or  Stephenson  bridge  has  head  room  for  ships  of  83  feet  in  the  clear, 
and  the  new  King  Edward  VII.  bridge  has  the  same.  Close  below 
the  Stephenson  bridge  is  a  low-level  swing  bridge.  But  few  large 
boats  go  above  these  bridges,  and  this  one  swing  bridge  is  the  last 
bridge  toward  the  sea.  There  has  been  clamor  for  bridges  lower 
down,  and  the  commission  has  established  ferries  to  serve  the  wish 
for  crossings.  North  and  South  Shields,  being  beaten  in  Parliament 
in  an  effort  to  get  a  bridge  near  the  river  mouth,  got  a  permit  for  a 
tunnel,  but  nothing  further  has  been  done  and  it  is  believed  that  the 
time  will  expire  and  the  permit  lapse  with  nothing  done.  There  is 
now  an  agitation  on  for  the  municipalities  to  take  over  the  ferries 
and  the  commission  is  quite  willing  it  should  be  done. 

Another  point  of  interest  for  Chicago  is  in  the  piers  at  the 
river  mouth,  which  advance  out  three-fourths  of  a  mile  to  sea,  com- 
pelling the  15-foot  tide  to  keep  the  bar  clear  to  a  30-foot  depth  at 
low  water.  These  sea  walls  are  carried  out  to  the  50-foot  depth, 
are  made  of  great  concrete  blocks  laid  in  cement,  and  carry  a  railway 
track  and  130-ton  cranes  for  use  in  construction  and  repairs.  The 
channel  in  the  river  provides  30  feet  at  low  water  up  to  Albert 
Edward  dock,  and  25  feet  up  to  the  swing  bridge.  There  has  been 
a  steady  decrease  in  the  number  of  vessels  entering  the  Tyne  from 
19,663  in  1865  to  12,935  in  1907.  But  the  average  size  of  vessel  has 
grown  from  205^4  net  register  tons  in  1865  to  698  1-5  in  1907,  and 
only  two  vessels  in  1907  were  over  5,600  net  register  tons.  That  is, 
the  entire  traffic  of  the  Tyne  is  carried  on  in  boats  of  an  average 
capacity  comparable  to  those  in  service  at  Chicago,  while  the  large 
ore  boats  coming  to  the  Calumet  have  twice  the  carrying  capacity  of 
the  largest  vessels  in  service  on  the  Tyne. 

Still  another  point  of  great  interest  to  all  of  us  in  America  is 
that  not  only  does  a  community  with  only  one-fourth  the  population 
of  Chicago  spend  over  $2,000,000  a  year  upon  its  harbor,  but  its 
Harbor  Commission  cares  for  human  life,  and  the  head  men  are 
quite  as  proud  of  the  provisions  for  safeguarding  human  life  as  they 

33 


are  of  their  engineering  successes.  The  commission  has  had  the 
courage  also,  and  far-sighted  good  sense  to  make  provision  for  pen- 
sioning retired  officers  and  employes,  and  provide  for  the  families 
of  those  sacrificed  by  accident.  And  they  reap  the  pleasant  benefit 
from  it  of  a  devoted  and  efficient  service  by  all  employes. 

The  Port  of  Bristol 

The  river  Severn  and  its  valley  provide  a  highway  from  the 
southern  apex  of  the  coal-rich  English  midlands  to  the  Bristol  chan- 
nel at  the  southwest.  The  export  and  import  traffic  of  the  very  rich 
region  of  Birmingham  is  sought  by  Bristol,  with  advantages  which 
may  outweigh  the  claims  of  Hull  or  Liverpool  and  Manchester. 
Bristol  is  also  a  gateway  for  the  Thames  basin,  and  the  great  market 
of  London.  In  addition  to  these  reasons  is  the  very  great  advantage 


Fig.  9.     Plan  of  the  Docks  at  Avonmouth. 

of  being  on  the  most  direct  and  shortest  route  to  the  great  American 
ports.  These  articles  of  advantage  are  being  said  over  like  a  creed 
by  the  good  people  of  Bristol,  and  with  the  courage  of  their  con- 
victions they  are  making  splendid  provision  for  the  trade  which 
must  and  will  come. 

Bristol  for  a  thousand  years  has  been  one  of  the  most  famous 
ports  of  Britain.  It  was  from  the  wharf  at  the  foot  of  the  main 
street  that  John  and  Sebastian  Cabot  set  sail  to  discover  the  new 
world.  During  the  palmy  days  of  the  slave  trade  Bristol  merchants 
amassed  vast  fortunes  and  acquired  a  practical  control  of  the  rich 
traffic  of  the  West  Indies.  There  are  yet  today  great  sugar  and 
cocoa  factories  which  were  started  in  those  old  days.  But  the  town 
of  Bristol  is  six  and  one-half  miles  up  the  little  river  Avon,  a  river 
smaller  than  the  Chicago  river.  And  when  last  century  the  ships 

34 


began  to  grow  large  by  the  introduction  of  steel  and  steam,  the  port 
of  Bristol  did  not  make  provision  for  the  larger  craft,  and  her  trade 
dwindled.  With  a  river  so  small  and  a  tide  so  high — there  is  a 
tidal  range  of  40  feet  in  the  Avon — it  was  out  of  the  question  to 
dig  the  river  deep  enough  to  bring  the  great  ships  up  to  Bristol.  A 
private  company  in  the  seventies  built  docks  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Avon,  and  the  city  recently  in  self-defense  got  a  new  Act  from  Par- 
liament to  extend  their  powers,  bought  up  the  docks  at  Avonmouth 
and  began  to  plan  for  facilities  adequate  for  the  largest  vessels  on 
the  ocean. 

It  is  worth  noticing  that  it  is  the  city  government  that  has  been 
the  actor  in  the  case  of  Bristol.  The  port  is  handled  as  a  municipal 
monopoly — the  best  case  in  the  kingdom,  though  there  are  in  Britain 
twenty-one  other  cases  of  municipal  monopoly,  and  sixty-seven 
cases  in  which  city  control  is  shared  with  state  or  private  interest. 
At  Bristol  the  ownership  of  all  docks,  quays,  sheds,  warehouses  and 
other  property  is  vested  in  the  Lord  Mayor,  Aldermen  and  Burgesses 
of  the  city  of  Bristol,  and  the  management  of  the  estate  is  vested  in 
a  committee  of  nineteen  members  of  the  city  council.  This  com- 
mittee, with  very  able  assistance  of  a  permanent  corps  of  adminis- 
trative officers,  a  secretary  and  general  manager,  collector  of  dues, 
engineers  and  assistants,  traffic  manager  and  harbor  master,  carry 
on  the  entire  business  of  the  port — construction  and  maintenance, 
warehousing,  and  the  handling  of  all  sorts  of  freight  on  the  water 
or  on  the  quays,  and  on  the  railway  tracks  of  the  estate. 

At  the  docks  in  the  city  of  Bristol  much  of  the  quay  frontage 
and  shed  room  is  rented  out  on  leases,  some  for  999  years,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  Co-operative  Wholesale  Company.  At  Avonmouth,  how- 
ever, the  purpose  is  to  keep  and  operate  the  port  facilities  as  a  city 
business.  It  is  the  city  that  handles  the  grain  and  tobacco  and  meats 
into  warehouses,  and  who  handles  the  freight  cars  to  and  from  the 
quays  and  the  tracks  of  the  great  railways  outside  the  dock  estate. 
Since  the  completion  of  the  newest  dock,  the  Royal  Edward,  the 
railway  companies  pay  the  city  for  this  switching  3d  per  ton  for 
goods  of  Classes  A,  B  and  C,  and  9d  per  ton  for  Classes  1,  2,  3,  4 
and  5.  The  city  has  on  the  dock  estate  43  miles  of  railway  and  ten 
locomotives. 

The  quality  of  construction  done  by  the  city  is  a  very  valuable 
object  lesson  to  us.  Everything  is  of  the  very  best  and  most  durable 
possible.  The  warehouses  are  of  brick  or  of  ferro-concrete,  and  are 
architecturally  pleasing.  The  new  tobacco  warehouse  is  of  ferro- 
concrete faced  with  vitrified  brick,  200x100  feet,  walls  at  bottom  3 

35 


feet  thick,  floors  and  roof  supported  by  posts  about  15  feet  apart. 
The  building  is  nine  stories  high  and  basement,  and  it  is  absolutely 
fireproof.  The  two  tobacco  warehouses  hold  about  25,000  casks 
of  tobacco.  The  new  grain  elevators  are  similarly  built,  placed  200 
yards  from  the  dock,  and  served  by  endless  belt  conveyors  through 
tunnels,  so  half  a  dozen  vessels  can  be  loaded  or  unloaded  at  once. 
The  new  Royal  Edward  dock  just  dedicated  by  the  King  in  July 
last,  is  a  magnificent  structure.  It  is  large  enough  to  accommodate 
half  a  dozen  great  liners  at  once,  but  is  only  the  first  and  outer  dock 
in  what  is  hoped  will  be  a  long  series  of  docks  running  eastward 
along  the  foreshore  of  the  Severn  estuary.  The  tidal  range  of  40 
feet  requires  a  dock  wall  and  gate  over  80  feet  deep,  in  order  to 
admit  the  largest  ships  at  any  phase  of  tide.  The  walls  are  of  con- 
crete, faced  with  vitrified  paving  brick  and  coped  with  Norwegian 
granite  blocks  pointed  and  keyed  with  lead.  Such  construction  is 
planned  for  a  thousand  years.  There  is  no  finer  anywhere.  It 
makes  one  hang  his  head  for  the  shabby  and  shoddy  stuff  we  line 
our  rivers  with. 

The  present  population  of  Bristol  is  only  a  third  of  a  million. 
They  have  borrowed  for  harbor  improvement  since  1848,  £4,988,- 
650,  or  nearly  $25,000,000.  Their  income  from  the  business  of  the 
port  in  1906  was  $1,137,067,  upon  a  net  register  tonnage  of  2,112,- 
907,  the  increase  in  net  tonnage  since  1850  being  nearly  400  per 
cent.  Upon  the  above  obligations  the  dock  estate  has  been  able  to 
pay  4.16  per  cent,  but  now  the  city  obtains  its  loans  at  3.5  per  cent, 
and  the  dock  estate  pays  that  and  lays  by  a  sinking  fund  as  required 
by  statute.  In  case  the  expenses  are  not  met  by  the  revenue  of  the 
dock  estate,  the  deficit  must  be  made  up  from  the  fund  raised  by 
general  taxation.  But  very  slight  call  has  been  made  upon  the 
pockets  of  the  citizens  so  far.  In  all  my  tour  of  a  score  of  the 
world's  great  ports  I  found  nowhere  more  earnest  zeal  for  the 
development  of  the  port  and  the  city  than  was  in  evidence  in  Bristol. 
The  whole  community  moves  as  one  man,  and  at  a  pace  and  with  an 
earnestness  and  wisdom  that  must  succeed.  Bristol  now  has  a  first- 
class  harbor.  Her  next  great  problem  lies  in  enlisting  the  whole 
hearted  support  of  the  railways  in  her  hinterland.  As  in  the  case  of 
Boston  and  Philadelphia,  her  problem  is  one  of  establishing  fair 
relations  with  the  systems  of  transportation  on  her  landward  side. 


36 


The  Scottish  Lowlands 

The  lowlands  of  Scotland  have  in  all  periods  of  history  been 
the  wealthiest  and  most  densely  populated  part  of  the  country.  They 
have  a  flat  surface  and  rich  soil,  and  they  have  also  almost  all  of  the 
mineral  wealth  of  the  country — a  considerable  deposit  of  coal,  oil 
shale  and  iron — and  because  of  this  the  bulk  of  the  manufacturing 
industry.  The  area  is  not  large,  it  is  only  42  miles  from  Glasgow 
to  Edinburg.  And  since  the  minerals  are  most  largely  on  the  west 
slope,  Glasgow  is  the  metropolis  and  port. 

The  Port  of  Glasgow 

It  is  rather  striking  to  notice  that  Glasgow,  though  one  of  the 
world's  great  industrial  and  commercial  cities,  is  the  focus  of  an 
area  of  not  much  over  25  miles  radius.  It  is  the  only  large  city  in 
the  region  and  in  its  growth  and  the  character  of  its  institutions 
reflects  not  only  the  wealth  of  natural  resources,  but  also  the  sterling 
quality  of  the  population  making  use  of  the  natural  advantages. 

In  organization  and  administration  of  the  port  we  find  in  Glas- 
gow several  of  the  features  familiar  at  Liverpool  and  Newcastle. 
The  port  was  managed  for  generations  (1611-1825)  by  the  mag- 
istrates and  town  council.  Various  changes  were  made  in  the  form 
of  organization  during  the  next  generation,  and  in  1858  an  act  was 
passed  establishing  a  Port  Trust,  which  has  held  up  to  date  and 
which  is  interesting  as  combining  without  the  trust  idea  an  intimate 
and  increasing  municipal  interest.  Since  the  most  of  the  modern 
port  development  was  done  by  the  trust  as  organized  by  the  act  of 
1858.  it  will  be  instructive  to  record  the  form  of  organization  therein 
provided.  The  trust  was  administered  by  an  incorporated  body  of 
twenty-eight  trustees,  who  gave  their  services  gratuitously,  consist- 
ing of: 

The  Lord  Provost  of  Glasgow  (the  Mayor). 
Fifteen  members  representative  of  the  shipping,  mercantile  and 
trading  interests  of  Glasgow,  viz.: 

Two  chosen  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

Two  chosen  by  the  Merchant's  House. 

Two  chosen  by  the  Trades  House ;  and 

Nine  elected  by  the  ship  owners  and  harbor  rate  payers.* 
The  Merchant's  House  and  Trades  House  are  associations  of 
guilds  handed  down  from  the  middle  ages,  both  bodies  exercising  a 

•Handbook  of  Industries  of  West  Scotland,  article  on  Clyde  Navigation, 
bv  T.  R.  Mackenzie.  General  Manager  and  Secretary  to  the  Clyde  Navigation. 
Glasgow,  1901. 

37 


very  powerful  influence  in  the  local  social  and  industrial  activities. 
The  body  as  thus  incorporated  and  known  as  the  "Clyde  Naviga- 
tion," has  given  us  the  modern  port  of  Glasgow.  It  has  created  a 
harbor  out  of  grain  fields  and  pastures.  Where  almost  within  the 
memory  of  living  men  the  Clyde  could  be  forded,  is  now  a  channel 
admitting  vessels  of  28  feet  draft.  To  accomplish  this  the  bed  of 
the  river  has  been  lowered  between  24  and  28  feet  for  nearly  20 
miles,  and  this  has  required  a  dredging  in  the  last  seventy  years  of 
over  72,000.000  cubic  yards  of  material.  The  trust  has  been  always 
a  very  efficient  business  organization.  The  port  is  not  worked  for  a 
profit.  The  Clyde  trustees  are  the  only  navigation  authority  within 
the  port.  Their  powers  include  (a)  deepening,  widening  and 
straightening  the  river;  (b)  its  lighting  and  buoying;  (c)  the  con- 
struction of  docks;  (d)  the  borrowing  of  money  for  works,  and  (e) 
the  levying  of  rates  on  all  vessels  and  goods.  There  has  never  been 
any  municipal  or  national  guaranty  rates  or  assistance  of  any  kind. 
Since  the  Clyde  for  18  miles  is  either  actually  or  potentially  a 
harbor,  towns  down  below  the  limits  of  Glasgow  have  become  inter- 
ested in  harbor  facilities,  and 'after  much  agitation  for  representation 
in  the  trust,  an  act  was  passed  by  Parliament  in  1905  raising  the 
number  of  trustees  to  42  to  be  chosen  as  follows : 
Twenty-four  chosen  members: 

10  by  the  Corporation  of  Glasgow. 

2  by  the  County  Council  of  Lanark. 

1  by  the  County  Council  of  Dunbarton. 

I  by  the  Town  Council  of  the  Burgh  of  Govan. 

1  by  the  Town  Council  of  the  Burgh  of  Partick; 

1  by  the  Town  Council  of  the  Burgh  of  Dumbarton. 

1  by  the  Town  Council  of  the  Burgh  of  Renfrew. 

1  by  the  Town  Council  of  the  Burgh  of  Clydebank. 

2  by  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Glasgow. 
2  by  Merchant's  House  of  Glasgow. 

2  by  Trades  House  of  Glasgow. 

Eighteen  elected  members :  Elected  by  ship  owners  and  harbor 
rate  payers  (the  electors  being  those  paying  £10  of  rates  in  the  year 
preceding  the  election). 

So  though  the  Clyde  Navigation  is  still  a  trust  in  form,  the 
manner  in  which  the  majority  of  its  members  are  now  chosen  makes 
it  a  municipal  body,  though  not  looking  to  the  municipalities  for  any 
financial  support.  It  distinctly  lacks  the  simplicity  and  independence 
of  the  Mersey  Docks  and  Harbour  Board.  Enterprising  public- 
spirited  business  men  regret  the  increase  in  number  of  trustees.  The 
body  becomes  too  unwieldy.  It  is  too  easy  for  a  member  to  find  an 
excuse  to  stay  away.  They  feel  also  that  it  is  a  mistake  to  have 

38 


members  chosen  to  represent  so  many  towns  and  other  interests,  and 
that  the  port  suffers  from  the  inertia  of  such  a  body ;  and  from  the 
fact  that  one  who  represents  one  of  the  lesser  towns  will  take  notice 
when  the  interests  of  his  town  are  discussed,  but  lacks  interest  in 
the  general  welfare  of  the  port. 

Unlike  Liverpool  and  many  other  port  authorities,  the  Clyde 
Navigation  does  no  warehousing,  handles  no  railway  cars  nor  light- 
ers, and  its  sheds  are  used  only  for  goods  in  transit.  So  its  earnings 
on  the  same  amount  of  traffic  are  less  than  at  Liverpool  or  Man- 
chester. Nevertheless,  it  earns  a  very  commendable  income,  and 
its  record  is  extremely  creditable.  The  following  table  shows  the 
growth  in  income  since  1860,  rising  in  1907  to  almost  $3,000,000. 

The  Clyde  Navigation  Total  Revenues,  1860-1908 

(From  Clyde  Navigation  Annual  Statistics,  Year  Ended  June  30,  1907.) 

1860  £   97,984  1S90     £356,203 

1865  121,588  1895     353,813 

1870  164,093  1900     441,420 

1375  196,327  1905     513,548 

1880  223,709  1907     547,862 

1885  291,658  Or  about  $2,800,000  in  1907. 

During  1907  the  net  register  tonnage  of  vessels  arriving  at  and 
departing  from  the  port  was  11,799,613.  The  tonnage  of  goods  was 
9,795,093,  or  just  about  the  present  lake  traffic  of  the  port  of  Chi- 
cago. From  1858  to  January  30,  1907,  the  total  capital  investment 
in  the  improvement  of  the  port  has  been  £8,884,261.  or  in  round 
numbers.  $44,000,000.  Bonds  have  been  issued  at  various  rates 
between  3  and  4  per  cent  and  the  trust  not  only  pays  the  running 
expenses  and  this  interest  on  investment,  but  sets  aside  a  sinking 
fund  as  well. 

The  Clyde  Trust  faces  the  bridge  problem,  though  up  to  date, 
bridges  have  been  evaded.  There  are  no  bridges  across  the  harbor, 
all  of  the  shipping  being  accommodated  below  Glasgow  bridge,  the 
lowest  bridge  on  the  Clyde.  But  the  trust  supplies  ferries  at  vari- 
ous crossings,  and  "cluthas"  or  passenger  boats  ply  between  ports 
up  and  down  the  river.  The  charges  are  very  low,  on  the  shorter 
ferries  as  low  as  one  cent  per  passenger ;  in  fact,  the  charges  are 
based  upon  the  bare  cost  of  operation,  there  being  no  intention  of 
making  a  profit.  There  are  twelve  ferries  in  the  upper  six  miles  of 
the  harbor  and  in  addition  two  subways,  one  being  a  part  of  a 
subway  belt  line  for  passenger  service,  but  not  much  used. 

The  port  facilities  of  the  Cylde  are  of  the  best.  The  channel 
now  provides  22  feet  at  low  water  and  33  feet  at  high  tide.  Berth- 

39 


40 


age  is  supplied  on  either  bank  of  the  river,  45  per  cent  of  the  total 
harbor,  and  in  specially  constructed  docks  or  tidal  basins  55  per  cent 
of  the  total.  The  tidal  range  of  eleven  feet  does  not  require  the 
construction  of  expensive  gates  and  locks.  The  total  quay  front 
in  Glasgow  is  about  ten  miles.  About  forty  ocean-going  vessels  can 
be  accommodated  with  berth  and  sheds  at  one  time.  There  are 
over  fifty  acres  of  floor  space  in  the  sheds.  The  sheds  are  modern, 
one  and  two  stories  high.  Movable  cranes  are  furnished  on  the 
quay,  usually  one  railway  track  between  the  shed  and  the  water. 

All  construction,  as  in  most  other  British  ports,  is  very  substan- 
tial, of  masonry  and  concrete  mostly,  and  built  for  all  time. 

Inland  transportation  is  almost  wholly  by  rail.  Nearly  every 
quay  is  supplied  with  tracks,  22  miles  in  all,  owned  by  the  trust,  and 
connecting  with  the  railway  systems  of  the  hinterland.  The  trust 
has  no  cars  or  locomotives,  and  no  charge  is  made  for  the  use  of 
tracks. 

The  story  of  Glasgow  has  much  food  for  thought  for  us  in 
Chicago.  The  development  of  the  port  made  possible  the  develop- 
ment of  the  hinterland,  and  has  invited  great  industries  which  other- 
wise could  never  have  been  established.  This  is  notably  true  of 
shipbuilding.  The  coal  of  the  region  meets  the  ore  of  Spain  and 
limestone  of  Wales  upon  the  banks  of  the  Clyde,  and  steel  navies 
for  all  the  world  are  born.  The  Lusitania,  largest  of  ships,  was 
built  and  launched  upon  the  Clyde.  Many  of  the  boats  for  our  own 
Great  Lakes  traffic  have  come  from  the  yards  of  the  Clyde.  The 
record  of  tonnage  built  since  1860  shows  us  what  we  might  be  doing 
in  Chicago: 

Tonnage  of  Ships  Built  on  the  Clyde,  1860-1907 

(From  the  Glasgow  Herald,  December  31,  1907.) 

1860 47,833  1876 174,824      1892 336,414 

1861 66,801  1877 169,710      1893 280,160 

1862 69,967  1878 222,353      1894 340,885 

1863 123,262  1879 174,750      1895 360,152 

1864 178,505  1880 241,114      1896 420,841 

1865 153,932  1881 341,022      1897 340,137 

1866 124,513  1882 391,934      1898 466,832 

1867 108,024  1883 419,664      1899 491,074 

1868 169,571  1884 296,854      1900 486,337 

1869 192,310  1885 193,453      1901 511,990 

1870 180,401  1886 172,440      1902 516,977 

1871 196,229  1887 185,362      1903 446,069 

1872 230,347  1888.' .  .280,037      1904 417,870 

J873 232,926  1889 335,201      1905 539,850 

1874 262,430  1890 349,995      1906 598,841 

1875 211,824  1891 326,475      1907 619,919 

41 


Last  year's  tonnage  built  on  the  Clyde  is  about  50  per  cent 
greater  than  the  total  tonnage  built  in  American  yards  in  the  same 
year,  and  is  about  two-thirds  as  great  as  all  the  shipbuilding  in  the 
world  outside  of  Britain. 

In  many  other  lines  of  industry,  as  in  textiles,  a  great  growth 
has  been  possible  because  of  the  development  of  the  port.  "The 
extraordinary  increase  of  population  and  industries  adjacent  to  the 
harbor  and  river  is  a  proof  of  progress.  Our  city  population  has 
doubled  since  1863.  Partick  has  grown  from  12.000  to  65,000: 
Govan  from  9.000  to  90.000:  Renfrew  from  4.000  to  11.000:  and 
Clydebank  has  developed  from  green  fields  and  ploughed  lands  to  a 
town  of  40.COO  inhabitants."  The  population  of  the  Greater  Glas- 
gow is  now  about  1.000,000,  and  as  prosperous  and  industrious  and 
alert  and  aggressive  as  any  we  can  show  in  America :  but  with  a 
vastly  greater  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  average  individual,  and 
with  a  more  conscious  community  interest  in  the  solution  of  social 
problems  of  all  kinds  than  can  be  found  anywhere  in  America  or 
than  can  be  hoped  for  in  the  next  generation. 

The  London  Basin 

The  rich  farming  lands  of  the  south  of  England,  especially 
those  of  the  Thames  basin,  in  the  early  centuries  gave  rise  to  the 
greatest  population  density  and  wealth  in  England,  and  the  Thames 
estuary  opening  out  toward  the  continent,  fixed  at  London,  as  the 
head  of  navigation,  the  metropolis  and  most  important  port  of  the 
realm.  \Yhen  the  Dutch  supremacy  on  the  sea  was  shattered  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  the  importance  of  the  British  merchant  marine 
and  of  the  port  of  London  rose  at  once  to  the  first  rank,  an  eminence 
still  held,  and  only  within  a  decade  or  so  threatened  by  the  rise  of 
other  nations  and  centers. 

The  Port  of  London 

London  has  always  been  a  great  entrepot,  importing  from  all 
the  earth  the  widest  variety  of  goods,  making  the  world's  largest 
market  from  which  by  re-shipment  world-wide  markets  of  lesser 
rank  have  been  supplied.  A  market  thus  established  has  the  greatest 
tenacity,  an  inertia  extremely  hard  for  other  rising  ports  to  over- 
come. So  it  comes  about  that  London  now  is  the  world's  head- 
quarters for  wool,  ivory,  spices,  rubber,  tea.  diamonds  and  various 
other  articles  of  commerce.  But  in  spite  of  market  inertia,  various 


commodity  headquarters,  once  in  London,  have  been  won  to  other 
ports.  Liverpool  now!  has  grain,  meats  and  tobacco,  and  New  York 
and  Havre  take  turns  as  headquarters  for  coffee.  And  it  is  inevit- 
able that  other  markets  will  in  time  be  lost,  for  London  is  not  hold- 
ing her  own.  The  population  of  London,  now  about  7,000,000, 
increases  with  a  rate  and  uniformity  hardly  equaled  in  any  other 
metropolis,  but  the  rate  of  growth  of  the  commerce  of  the  port  is 
exceeded  by  New  York,  Antwerp  and  Hamburg.  London  today  in 
net  register  tonnage  stands  below  these  three  ports. 

The  far-sighted,  public-spirited  men  of  the  port  of  London  have 
watched  this  slowing  up  in  the  business  of  the  port  for  the  last 
decade.  They  realized  that  the  condition  is  largely  due  to  the 
method,  or  lack  of  method,  of  port  administration.  For  London, 
like  most  of  our  American  ports,  is  like  Topsy  in  "Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin,"  who  "jest  growed."  As  a  consequence  the  administration 
of  the  port  of  London  is  the  most  complicated  on  record.  Quoting 
from  The  Port  of  London ;  Minutes  of  Evidence  3343-4 :  "The  chief 
authorities  are: 

"The  Thames  Conservancy :  for  the  conservancy  of  the  whole  of 
the  Thames,  including  the  port,  the  area  of  its  jurisdiction  in  the 
port  differing  in  limits  for  various  purposes ; 

"The  Trinity  House  of  Deptford  Strond:  for  pilotage,  lighting 
and  buoying  from  London  Bridge  seawards; 

"The  City  Corporation:  for  port  sanitary  purposes  from  Ted- 
dington  lock  seawards ; 

"The  Watermen's  and  Lightermen's  Company:  in  the  business 
of  lighterage  and  barge  service ; 

"And  many  other  authorities  with  statutory  powers,  which  have 
to  be  taken  into  account,  such  as  the  dock  companies  and  other  com- 
panies, and  several  local  authorities." 

The  Thames  Conservancy  is  a  governmental  board  with  varied 
powers,  extending  over  the  entire  Thames  basin ;  "channel  mainte- 
nance, regulation  of  navigation,  supervision  of  all  explosives  and 
petroleum,  the  maintenance  of  all  public  moorings,  the  use  of  which 
are  free  to  ships ;  the  marking,  watching  and  removal  of  wrecks  and 
obstructions  from  the  channel,  the  dredging  of  the  river  for  the 
improvement  and  maintenance  of  navigation,  the  prevention  of 
pollution."  The  Trinity  House  is  likewise  a  government  board, 
responsible  for  the  lighting  of  coasts  and  harbors  not  locally  pro- 
vided for;  it  licenses  and  regulates  pilots,  examines  all  persons  who 

43 


are  qualifying  for  position  of  dock  master,  masters  and  mates  of 
vessels.  The  Watermen's  and  Lightermen's  Company  is  a  vigorous 
specimen  of  the  mediaeval  gild,  controlling  the  character  of  service, 
charges  and  personnel  of  the  barge  and  lighter  business  of  the  port. 
The  Corporation  of  London  is  at  once  the  sanitary,  police  and  fire 
authority  of  the  port.  It  safeguards  the  port  from  entrance  by  way 
of  the  river  of  infection  and  disease  brought  in  either  by  persons 
or  goods." 

In  1901-2  a  Royal  Commission  made  an  exhaustive  study  of 
the  Port  of  London,  the  result  of  which  was  the  introduction  of  a 
bill  into  Parliament  to  unify  and  simplify  the  port  administration. 
The  need  was  urgent,  but  the  problem  of  compromise  or  settlement 
with  the  multitude  of  conflicting  interests  in  the  port  was  too  great, 
and  the  bill  was  defeated. 

Another  bill  was  introduced  in  the  summer  session  of  1908, 
which  has  run  the  gauntlet  of  all  the  multitude  of  opposing  interests 
and  which  in  the  closing  days  of  the  autumn  session  became  a  law.  It 
is  instructive  to  notice  that  after  the  deliberate  and  exhaustive  study 
for  a  number  of  years  of  the  port  problem,  the  promoters  of  this 
bill  have  adopted  practically  the  Liverpool  plan  of  a  public  trust, 
of  absolute  freedom  and  undivided  monopoly  control  over  the  port. 
The  trust  is  composed  of  24  members  as  follows : 

Fourteen  members  elected : 
By  payers  of  port  dues, 
Wharfingers, 
Owners  of  river  craft. 

Ten  members  appointed: 
One  by  the  Admiralty, 
Two  by  the  Board  of  Trade, 

Three  by  the  London  County  Council  (members  of), 
Three  by  the  London  County  Council  (not  members  of), 
One  by  the  Corporation  of  London, 
One  by  Trinity  House. 

This  port  authority  is  to  elect  its  chairman  and  vice-chairman, 
who  may,  but  need  not  be,  members  of  the  trust.  The  trust  may  pay 
the  chairman,  vice-chairman  and  chairman  of  committees  any  sal- 
aries it  sees  fit.  The  trust  is  given  power  to  do  the  business  of  any 
dock  company,  and  to  construct  and  equip  docks,  piers,  quays,  sheds, 
warehouses,  railways,  etc.,  and  all  present  dock  companies'  holdings 
are  to  be  transferred  to  it.  The  trust  may,  on  application  to  the 

44 


Board  of  Trade,  be  given  power  to  acquire  land  for  extension  by 
purchase  or  othenvise  than  by  agreement ;  to  construct  and  equip 
and  to  charge  to  capital  any  such  improvement.  The  values  of  all 
properties  to  be  turned  over  to  the  trust  have  been  appraised  by 
competent  disinterested  parties  and  terms  arbitrated  where  neces- 
sary. The  result  of  this  valuation  is  somewhat  surprising.  The 
nominal  value  of  all  docks  is  given  as  £24,000,000,  and  of  the  320 
wharves  as  £13,000,000,  a  total  of  docks  and  wharves  of  about 
$200,000,000. 

It  is  most  significant  for  us  in  Chicago  that  the  best  brains  in 
Britain,  after  years  of  exhaustive  study,  have  adopted  the  policy  of 
having  one  powerful  independent  monopoly  in  charge  of  the  busi- 
ness of  the  port.  Private  interests  disappear,  and  the  affairs  of  the 
port  are  to  be  managed  as  one  estate  in  the  interest  of  all  the  people 
doing  business  in  the  port;  and  with  the  intention  not  of  paying 
the  largest  dividend  possible,  but  of  giving  the  best  possible  service, 
and  paying  an  interest  of  only  about  3  per  cent  on  the  actual  capital 
investment. 

The  London  port  facilities  are  very  extensive.  The  Thames 
is  a  harbor  of  rather  excellent  quality  from  London  Bridge  to  Til- 
bury docks,  a  distance  of  22-V^  miles.  At  low  water  there  is  a  chan- 
nel at  Tilbury  26  feet  deep,  falling  to  14  feet  at  London  Bridge. 
High  tide  adds  21  feet  to  these  depths.  In  spite  of  this  range  in  tide 
levels,  there  are  80.000  feet  of  quay  in  use  on  the  river  banks,  and 
half  the  discharging  of  cargo  of  the  port  is  done  either  at  the  river- 
side quays  or  in  the  open  river.  To  serve  this  river  traffic  62  tien» 
of  water  moorings  provide  berths  for  121  ships,  used  by  vessels  up 
to  5,500  net  register  tons,  and  in  addition  there  are  16  swinging 
moorings  each  for  one  vessel.  Three  thousand  vessels  per  year 
use  water  moorings,  and  pay  no  port  dues  except  the  slight  fee  to 
the  Thames  Conservancy. 

Vessels  anchoring  in  the  river  or  at  any  quay  may  be  served  by 
barge  or  lighter.  These  barges  flock  round  a  great  steamer  and  take 
its  cargo  for  delivery  to  any  warehouse  or  quay  on  the  whole  water 
front  of  London  harbor.  There  are  over  10,000  of  these  barges  in 
commission,  ranging  in  size  from  70  to  200  tons.  They  are  small 
enough  so  they  can  go  under  the  bridges  and  into  the  canals,  and 
so  they  serve  the  upper  river.  The  barge  is  the  most  characteristic 
feature  of  London  harbor  traffic.  These  barges  are  owned  privately 
and  pay  no  port  charges  whatever.  Each  barge  is  licensed  by  the 
Watermen's  Company,  and  a  small  annual  renewal  of  from  $1.50  to 
$2.50  per  year  is  charged  on  each  owner's  fleet.  The  river  is  lined 

-J5 


46 


on  both  banks  with  warehouses  and  fringed  with  these  barges  at 
all  times.  When  one  has  watched  these  busy  lighters,  taking  goods 
from  any  part  of  the  miles  of  river  front  to  vessels  anchored  any- 
where else,  and  seen  the  flock  of  barges  round  a  steamer  in  mid- 
stream, ready  to  take  the  boxes,  barrels  and  bales  to  any  one  of  miles 
of  warehouses  anywhere  in  the  port,  the  possibilities  of  such  service 
in  Chicago  harbor  between  Calumet,  the  lake  front  and  the  river  and 
canal  loom  large  on  the  imagination,  and  one  cannot  escape  the 
conviction  that  our  city  cannot  do  better  than  to  give  every  consid- 
eration possible  for  the  establishment  of  such  facilities  here. 

About  half  the  traffic  of  the  port  is  handled  in  docks  and  basins, 
connected  with  the  river  by  locks  so  as  to  maintain  a  constant  level 
of  water  and  to  concentrate  the  handling  of  freight  into  a  smaller 
area.  Until  the  passage  of  the  recent  Harbor  Act  all  the  docks  were 
owned  by  private  companies,  which  also  furnished  the  shed  and 
warehouse  service,  but  were  not  at  all  interested  in  shipping.  About 
80  per  cent  of  the  dock  business  was  in  the  hands  of  one  concern — 
the  London  and  India  Docks  Company,  owning  nearly  all  the  dock 
facilities  north  of  the  river.  South  of  the  river  the  Surrey  Com- 
mercial Docks  Company  owned  all  the  docks. 

The  London  and  India  Docks  Company  controlled  the  dock  sit- 
uation in  London.  It  owned  430  of  the  640  acres  of  water  in  the 
London  docks,  and  106,000  feet  of  the  total  143,000  linear  feet  of 
quay.  The  estate  covered  1,800  acres,  had  15,500,000  square  feet  of 
shed  and  warehouse  floor  space,  capable  of  caring  for  nearly  1,000,- 
000  tons  of  goods  at  a  time.  The  best  accommodations  in  the  port 
for  the  largest  steamers,  the  Tilbury  docks,  22^4  miles  below  London 
Bridge,  belonged  also  to  this  company.  On  the  estate  were  80  miles 
of  railway,  and  the  company  owned  and  ran  30  locomotives  to  han- 
dle the  freight  cars. 

On  the  whole,  the  docks  and  riverside  quays  of  London  are  not 
well  served  by  railway.  The  great  bulk  of  freight  is  handled  by 
barge  or  lurry.  The  newer  docks,  the  Royal  Victoria,  Royal  Albert 
and  Tilbury  docks,  are  well  equipped  with  tracks,  as  a  rule  two 
tracks  on  the  quay  between  the  water  and  the  shed,  and  ample 
switching  yards  back  of  the  shed.  Though  the  Thames  is  connected 
by  canal  with  the  network  of  canal  systems  of  central  England,  canal 
traffic  is  not  a  large  element  in  the  business  of  the  port.  The  canals 
of  Britain  are  in  nearly  the  same  state  of  desuetude  as  our  own 
canals  and  for  about  the  same  reasons. 

One  reason  why  the  port  traffic  of  London  has  not  held  its  own 
is  to  be  found  in  the  flow  of  freight  from  the  west,  which  can  come 

47 


via  Bristol,  Southampton  and  other  ports,  and  arrive  many  hours 
sooner  by  a  short  rail  journey.  That  is,  the  London  market  is  more 
and  more  being  served  by  outlying  ports.  American  meat,  for  ex- 
ample, is  unloaded  at  Southampton  directly  into  the  delivery  wagon, 
and  this  loaded  wagon  is  carried  on  the  freight  car  ready  to  hitch 
the  horses  to  in  London — so  saving  one  or  two  handlings  and  several 
hours  of  time.  And  this  is  a  kind  of  competition  which  is  inevitable. 
It  is  a  geographic  advantage  which  Southampton  and  Bristol  ought 
to  reap.  Incidentally,  it  is  a  case  of  competition  between  railways 
and  established  water  routes,  the  development  at  Southampton  be- 
ing due  almost  entirely  to  the  initiative  of  the  London  and  South- 
western Railway.  In  similar  case,  whatever  may  be  done  at  Bristol 
is  again  a  question  of  the  co-operation  of  the  great  railway  systems 
between  Bristol  and  London. 

Southampton 

Southampton  is  thus  rising  in  prominence  in  proportion  as  the 
port  service  of  London  markets  is  cheaper  or  more  efficient  than 
the  trade  up  the  Thames  estuary  direct.  The  significance  of  the  port 
lies  almost  wholly  in  the  fact  of  its  being  a  gateway  for  London.  It 
is  very  advantageously  placed  as  a  port  of  call  for  vessels  to  and 
from  the  ports  of  Northwest  Europe.  Mails  from  America  are 
landed  here  for  London  and  the  east  of  England.  So  for  very  good 
reasons  the  business  of  the  port  is  expanding.  But  its  importance  is 
always  to  be  limited  by  the  service  it  can  share  with  Bristol, 
Plymouth,  Harwich  and  others  as  a  gateway  for  London. 

The  London  and  Southwestern  Railway  owns  and  operates  its 
own  docks,  quays,  sheds,  warehouses  and  railway  trackage.  As  to 
efficiency  of  management  and  quality  of  facilities  offered,  there  is  no 
question.  There  is  evident  here  again  the  very  great  advantage  in  a 
practical  monopoly  of  the  business  of  the  port,  as  is  so  patent  at 
Liverpool  and  Manchester,  with  some  obvious  additional  advantages 
for  the  attraction  of  traffic,  such  as  a  fusion  of  port  dues  with  the 
through  railway  rates  to  London,  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  the 
through  rate  more  attractive  to  the  shipper  than  he  might  get  by 
dealing  with  an  independent  port  authority  and  the  railway  company 
individually. 

The  Welsh  Goal  Field  and  Its  Port 

On  the  south  flank  of  Wales  where  the  paleozoic  strata  dip  off 
under  the  estuary  of  the  Severn,  are  found  the  richest  coal  deposits 
and  the  best  quality  of  coal  of  all  Britain ;  coal  superior  to  most  of 
the  West  Virginia  product  and  ranking  next  in  quality  to  our  best 

48 


anthracite.  This  coal  is  in  demand  as  steam  coal  over  all  the  earth, 
and  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  Welsh  coal  is  burned  in 
every  port  under  the  sun.  This  coal  is  the  one  product  in  a  very 
limited  hinterland,  which  is  responsible  for  the  rise  of  Cardiff,  the 
largest  coal-shipping  port  in  the  worlu,  and  the  place  where  greatest 
progress  has  been  made  in  the  business  of  handling  coal. 

The  Port  of  Cardiff 

The  Port  of  Cardiff  is  the  best  case  in  Britain  of  an  exclusively 
private  development.  The  entire  port  and  all  its  business  is  almost 
exclusively  the  work  of  one  corporation,  practically  of  one  man,  the 
Marquis  of  Bute.  This  man,  owning  very  extensive  coal  deposits 
in  the  hills  back  of  Cardiff,  established  this  port  in  order  to  ship  his 
coal.  Docks  were  built  and  a  railway  to  serve  them,  and  being 
defeated  in  Parliament  in  an  attempt  to  get  his  own  railway  line 
back  to  his  coal  lands,  his  road  was  made  a  terminal  railway  com- 
pany, the  Cardiff  Railway  Company,  of  which  the  Bute  Docks  Com- 
pany is  a  part.  Seven  different  railway  systems  have  lines  to  the 
docks  and  the  major  part  of  export  coal  from  South  Wales  goes 
from  this  port,  constituting  about  nine-tenths  of  the  export  tonnage. 
Because  of  this  shipment  of  coal  the  port  of  Cardiff  ranks  third  in 
Britain  on  the  basis  of  tonnage,  while  on  the  basis  of  value  of 
imports  it  ranks  seventeenth.  But  in  the  one  great  business  of 
handling  coal  the  efficiency  of  management  is  unrivaled.  Not  only 
do  they  handle  coal  at  a  faster  rate  than  elsewhere  in  Britain,  but 
they  load  it  with  less  waste  from  breakage  than  anywhere  else  on 
earth.  A  Cardiff  invention  called  the  Lewis-Hunter  system  is  in 
use.  The  average  carload  of  coal  is  10  tons.  The  car  is  picked  up 
bodily  by  a  crane,  and  its  load  slides  out  one  end  into  a  square  steel 
box  or  cage,  which  holds  it  easily.  This  cage  is  then  swung  over 
the  coamings  and  to  the  bottom  of  the  hold  of  the  vessel.  The 
bottom  of  the  cage  is  a  four-sided  cone,  supported  from  the  apex 
by  a  rod  which  passes  up  through  the  coal  to  the  cable  of  the  crane. 
The  box  is  lifted  away  from  the  bottom,  allowing  the  coal  to  slide 
out  on  all  sides,  the  bottom  later  being  pulled  up  through  the  coal. 
The  least  possible  breakage  ensues,  the  coal  trimming  itself,  and 
distributing  the  "small"  evenly  through  the  hold. 

As  at  Bristol,  the  tide  has  a  great  range,  in  this  case  of  36  feet. 
So  all  docks  must  be  provided  with  locks  and  gates,  enormously 
expensive,  and  even  then  vessels  may  not  come  in  at  low  tide.  The 
harbor  has  a  water  area  of  161 Y^  acres,  not  counting  certain  pools 
for  the  storage  of  lumber,  and  a  total  quay  length  of  6)4  miles. 

The  Dock  Company  has  an  absolute  monopoly  of  the  port,  fur- 

49 


nishes  its  own  light  and  hydraulic  power,  lights  and  buoys  the  port, 
has  a  railway  trackage  for  20,000  cars  at  a  time,  and  sheds  and 
warehouses,  including  cold  storage  for  an  extensive  trade.  The 
Cardiff  Railway  Company  is  capitalized  at  $35,000,000.  A  single 
dock  of  recent  construction,  the  Queen  Alexandra,  cost  $11,250,000. 

The  Paris  Basin 

Analogous  to  the  basin  of  the  Thames,  and  like  the  opposite 
page  of  an  open  book,  lies  the  rich  valley  of  the  Seine  river,  with 
Paris  at  its  focus. 

The  Port  of  Havre 

The  natural  gateway  to  this  populous  and  wealthy  basin  is  Havre, 
the  first  seaport  of  France,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Seine  at  its 
mouth,  standing  in  the  very  edge  of  the  deep  and  unobstructed 
English  Channel.  Xo  port  on  the  Continent  of  Europe  has  so  fine  a 
position  for  the  trade  of  the  world,  and  the  wonder  is  that  it  has  not 
developed  faster.  Napoleon  recognized  its  significance  and  is 


Fig.  12.     The  Port  of  Havre  showing  the  new  project. 

quoted  by  the  Normans  with  pleasure:  "Paris,  Rouen  and  Havre 
are  one  city,  and  the  Seine  is  the  principal  street."  It  is  in  the 
direct  path  of  the  ocean  liners  from  the  North  Sea  to  America,  the 
most  natural  focus  for  the  trade  of  west  central  Europe. 

Inquiry  discloses  that  Havre  has  lagged  behind  Antwerp  and 
other  North  Atlantic  ports  because  of  the  most  clumsy  method  of 

50 


harbor  administration  ever  devised,  instructive  to  us  in  America  as 
a  condition  to  be  avoided.  It  is  the  French  plan,  and  applies  to  all 
her  harbors  equally.  The  public-spirited  men  of  Havre  have  watched 
the  increase  in  the  size  and  demands  of  modern  shipping,  and  the 
splendid  growth  of  rival  ports,  knowing  all  the  while  that  the  fault 
lies  in  the  French  system,  which  has  lodged  too  much  power  in  the 
state  authority,  and  that  a  sensible  organization  of  port  authority 
could  put  Havre  where  she  rightfully  belongs  in  the  front  rank  of 
the  world's  greatest  ports.  When  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
Havre  started  a  strong  agitation  in  1882  to  get  an  enabling  act  for 
adequate  harbor  facilities  to  keep  pace  with  the  demands  of  com- 
merce, the  effort  was  rewarded  with  the  desired  act  in  1895 — thir- 
teen years  merely  to  get  the  act.*  Then  by  the  cumbersome  method 
of  distributed  responsibility  and  divided  authority,  it  has  taken 
another  thirteen  years  to  get  as  far  along  as  the  Mersey  Docks  and 
Harbor  Board  may  get  in  a  two  hours'  session. 

And  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  time  is  consumed,  and  plans 
obsolete  before  a  spade  is  turned.  The  proposition  for  the  harbor 
extension  now  in  construction  went  from  office  to  office  between 
authorities,  and  back  and  forth  twenty-five  times !  If  there  were 
no  opposition,  every  one  anxious  for  it  and  pushing  it,  this  gamut 
would  require  eighteen  months  as  a  minimum. 

Then,  too,  the  situation  is  all  the  more  deplorable  that  the  city 
must  raise  about  78  per  cent  of  the  cost  of  an  improvement,  though 
the  city  interests  have  no  power  in  choice  of  plan  or  method  of  con- 
struction, and  in  the  administration  of  the  finished  harbor  only  frag- 
ments of  power  and  these  compromised  by  the  state  supervision. 
Here  is  a  world's  record  for  divided  authority: 

1.  Minister  of  Marine  has: 

( 1 )  The  pilot  service,  and 

(2)  The  police  for  mariners  and  ships  in  part. 

2.  Minister  of  Public  Works: 

(1)  New  works  under  engineers  of  "Ports  et  Chaus- 
sees," 

(2)  General  policing  of  the  docks,  and 

(3)  Equipment  and  lighting  of  the  docks. 

3.  Minister  of  the  Interior: 

(1)  Sanitary  service,  and 

(2)  Policing  the  quays,  and 

(3)  Lighting  the  quays  (city  expense). 

•"Exploitation  et  Administration  des  Ports  Maritime."  Rapport  presente 
(to  the  Havre  Chamber  of  Commerce)  par  M.  Maurice  Taconet,  au  nom  de  la 
commission  de  1'autonomie  des  Ports.  Havre,  1905. 

51 


4.  Minister  of  Finance : 

( 1 )  Collection  of  dues  and  fees, 

(2)  Interpretation  of  tariffs, 

(3)  Regulation  of  hours  of  loading  and  unloading. 

5.  Minister  of  Commerce : 

(1)  In  everything  undertaken  by  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce ;  in  the  mechanical  equipment ;  sheds 
and  warehouses,  etc. 

So  t litre  are  three  sets  of  police,  with  constant  invitation  to 
friction,  very  slow  of  settlement ;  two  harbor  masters  and  sets  of 
harbor  rules  and  regulations ;  and  the  rights  of  the  city,  and  its  in- 
terests always  to  be  settled  by  bureau  officials  in  Paris. 

Havre  has  now  the  coveted  legislative  permission  to  enlarge 
her  harbor  and  bring  it  up  to  modern  requirements.  Much  good 
work  has  been  done  since  1900,  and  the  result  of  it  is  shown  in  a 
very  rapidly  increasing  tonnage.  In  1900  the  net  register  tonnage 
was  4.400,000,  and  had  been  almost  at  a  standstill  for  two  decades. 
In  the  seven  years  since  then  the  net  register  tonnage  has  doubled, 
standing  now  at  8,837,000.  In  this  interval  only  New  York  and 
Antwerp  in  all  the  world  show  a  slightly  more  rapid  growth. 

The  harbor  enlargement  is  undertaken  in  the  face  of  the  serious 
physical  handicap  of  the  drifting  sand  of  an  estuary  opening  wide  to 
a  tidal  range  of  25  feet.  But  Havre  is  placed  at  the  extreme  south- 
west point  of  the  north  shore  of  the  estuary,  and  has  built  a  great 
mole  out  into  the  teeth  of  the  sea,  which  provides  the  entrance  on 
one  side  of  the  delta,  and  hence  easily  defended  from  the  drifting 
sand.  The  work  was  begun  in  1896,  and  was  to  have  been  finished 
in  eight  years,  but  for  reasons  above  indicated,  the  construction  is 
delayed,  and  it  will  be  some  years  yet  before  it  will  be  finished.* 

This  extension  as  now  provided  for,  will  more  than  double  the 
accommodation  of  the  harbor,  and  will  provide  berths  and  turning 
basins  2,800  x  2,000  feet,  "and  with  a  depth  which  will  care  for  the 
largest  vessels  we  have  any  reason  to  look  for  within  a  century. 
The  harbor  entrance  and  great  basins  are  added  by  reclaiming  the 
shallow  foreshore  of  the  estua'ry,  and  this  has  been  so  planned  as 
to  make  this  entrance  lead  on  into  new  additions  to  the  harbor  to 
be  in  turn  won  from  the  estuary  farther  eastward  as  the  need  may 
arise.  The  one  unit  of  new  work  now  in  creation,  will  cost,  just 
sea  wall,  channel  and  basins  alone,  without  sheds  or  equipment,  the 

•Krindeau.  Louis.  "Le  Port  du  Havre:  Son  etat  actual;  le  Nouveau  Projet; 
L,e  Ha\re.  1907." 

52 


round  sum  of  $17,OCO,000.  In  ten  years  according  to  present  plans, 
the  largest  ship  on  the  sea  can  come  to  Havre  at  any  stage  of  tide. 

Next  to  an  inert  central  government,  the  merchants  of  Havre 
have  been  handicaped  by  a  stubborn,  privately  owned  railway,  the 
Western  Railway  Company.  As  in  so  many  other  places  the  natural 
expansion  of  the  city  has  been  subject  to  the  whim  of  railway  man- 
agement, remote  and  not  actively  interested  in  the  development  of 
the  city.  For  some  years  the  purchase  of  the  railway  by  the  gen- 
eral government  has  been  contemplated,  and  in  this  time  scarcely  a 
sou  has  been  spent  upon  it  to  improve  the  service  or  advance  the 
interests  of  its  patrons. 

The  new  work  now  partly  finished,  provides  an  outer  harbor 
of  175  acres  with  an  entrance  656  feet  wide,  approached  by  a  chan- 
nel 984  feet  wide,  and  with  a  minimum  depth  of  29  feet  6  inches. 
There  are  10  inner  basins  with  a  combined  water  area  of  200  acres, 
and  with  40,500  linear  feet  of  quay. 

The  construction  of  docks,  quays,  and  sea  wall  is  of  the  highest 
order  of  excellence;  cut  stone,  brick  and  concrete  being  the  mate- 
rials used.  One  of  the  finest  lines  of  transatlantic  vessels,  the 
French  Transatlantic  Company,  has  Havre  as  its  home  port,  and 
their  new  terminal  where  passengers  are  landed  is  the  finest  in  ex- 
istence. The  building  is  two  story,  the  first  floor  being  devoted  to 
freight,  the  second  floor  to  passenger  service.  The  shed  is  of  steel 
and  concrete.  Passengers  land  under  cover,  into  waiting  rooms 
finished  in  mahogany  and  leaded  glass,  and  with  every  necessary 
convenience ;  rest  rooms,  writing  and  reading  rooms,  service  rooms, 
telegraph  and  telephone ;  a  very  inviting  place. 

The  warehousing  in  this  port  is  carried  on  by  a  private  mon- 
opoly, working  under  permit  and  supervision  of  the  city.  The  newer 
sheds  are  of  brick  and  iron,  rather  frail  looking,  but  well  served 
with  traveling  cranes  along  the  quay,  and  with  railway  tracks  front 
and  rear.  One  gets  the  impression  that  most  of  the  goods  are  han- 
dled across  the  quay  by  dray,  or  "le  camions,"  as  they  call  it. 

The  long  neglect  of  the  harbor  of  Havre  reminds  us  of  our 
own  case  in  Chicago.  The  plan  so  successfully  carried  out  of  mak- 
ing a  magnificent  harbor  by  reclaiming  as  much  as  they  choose  of 
the  shallow  estuary  off  shore,  is  very  significant  and  instructive  in 
view  of  our  own  need  and  opportunity  on  the  lake  front.  Havre 
has  now  a  population  of  only  130,000.  Since  1831  there  has  been 
spent  upon  the  harbor  over  $42,000,000,  three-fourths  of  which  has 
been  raised  by  the  city.  The  heroic  efforts  and  success  of  the  busi- 
ness men  of  Havre  to  win  harbor  success  from  a  sluggish  and  indif- 


ferent  bureaucracy  and  against  the  deadening  influence  of  an 
antagonistic  railway  monopoly  in  the  hinterland,  should  give  us 
inspiration  for  our  own  harbor  problem. 

The  Valleys  of  Germany  and  Their  Ports 

Germany  has  a  population  of  60,000,000,  Switzerland  of  3,300,- 
000,  the  Netherlands  of  5,500,000,  and  Belgium  of  7,000,000.  These 
people  occupy  the  central  part  of  the  northwest  slope  of  Europe,  a 
rich  agricultural  region,  rich  also  in  coal,  iron  and  other  minerals, 
and  hence  rapidly  developing  as  manufacturing  communities.  The 
rivers  Schelde,  Rhine,  Weser  and  Elbe  are  the  chief  natural  high- 
ways of  this  slope,  and  the  river  mouths  have  thus  become  the  foci 
of  a  great  and  increasing  international  trade.  Three  of  these  cen- 
ters, Antwerp,  Rotterdam  and  Hamburg  have  within  a  generation, 
become  commercial  ports  of  the  first  rank,  and  it  will  well  repay 
us  to  look  with  some  care  into  the  reasons  for  this  rapid  growth. 

The  Port  of  Antwerp 

Belgium  is  one  of  the  richest  maufacturing  regions  of  the 
world,  the  industries  growing  out  of  the  service  of  the  coal  deposits 
of  East  Belgium.  Through  this  rich  area  the  river  Schelde  leads 
northward  to  the  North  Sea,  where  Antwerp  at  the  head  of  deep 
water  navigation  has  become  the  second  port  of  the  world  as  meas- 
ured by  net  register  tonnage.  A  network  of  canals  connects  the 
Schelde  with  the  Seine,  Meuse  and  Rhine,  and  leads  the  freight  to 
and  from  a  rather  wide  hinterland.  In  addition  to  this  there  is  ex- 
cellent railway  connection  to  the  coal  fields  and  the  Paris  basin  at 
the  south  and  to  the  rich  and  populous  manufacturing  region  at  the 
Ruhr  coal  field  on  the  middle  Rhine. 

The  valleys  of  the  Meuse  and  Rhine  lead  much  more  directly 
to  Rotterdam  and  for  this  reason  Rotterdam  is  a  close  and  active 
rival  of  Antwerp  as  a  gateway  of  West  Germany. 

Administration.  Antwerp  is  very  fortunate  in  the  organization 
of  port  administration  and  we  will  discover  that  much  of  the  recent 
growth  of  the  rival  ports  of  west  Europe  is  due  to  the  wisdom  and 
singleness  of  purpose  of  the  port  administration.  The  case  of  Ant- 
werp is  that  of  municipal  monopoly,  though  a  small  part  of  the 
river  front  is  owned  by  the  state. 

The  city  council  of  39  members,  presided  over  by  the  Burgo- 

54 


master  (mayor),  is  the  highest  authority.*  The  council  chooses 
from  its  own  number  a  harbor  commission  of  five  members,  of 
which  the  Burgomaster  is  the  chairman.  In  this  commission  there 
are  secretaries  of  commerce  and  public  works.  The  state  under- 
takes the  policing  of  the  port,  lighting  and  buoying,  the  ferries,  and 
the  collection  of  dues.  To  facilitate  the  smooth  running  of  the  port 


THE  PORT  OF  ANTWERP  1908 


Fig.  13.     The  Port  of  Antwerp  showing  projected  improvements. 

a  special  consultative  commission  is  formed,  consisting  of  five  state 
officials,  two  city  officials,  and  two  members  representing  private  in- 
terests, as  follows: 
From  the  state: 

Director  of  Railways  of  the  Antwerp  district, 
The  Chief  of  the  Railway  Freight  Terminals, 
The  Local  Engineer-in-Chief  of  Roads  and  Railways, 


•Notice  sur  le  Port  d'Anvers  (by  M.  Ferd.  Kinart,  Chief  Engineer),  Brus- 
sels, 1905. 

55 


The  Director  of  Pilots  and  Chief  of  Harbor  Police, 

The  Collector  of  Customs. 
From  the  city : 

The  Chief  Engineer, 

The  Harbor  Master. 
To  represent  private  interests: 

Two  Members  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

This  consultative  committee  is  an  active  body  with  a  direct  in- 
terest in  the  affairs  of  the  port,  and  corresponds  somewhat  to  the 
"Board"  at  Liverpool. 

The  port  is  divided  into  two  very  unequal  parts,  the  major 
portion  offering  11  miles  of  wharfage,  was  built  wholly  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  city.  The  minor  portion  of  the  harbor  consists  of 
about  Zl/2  miles  of  the  right  bank  of  the  Schelde  in  the  south  edge 
of  the  town.  And  though  these  quays  were  built  by  the  state,  they 
have  been  handed  over  to  the  harbor  authority  of  the  city  for  ad- 
ministration. 

The  present  municipal  monopoly  is  of  recent  origin,  for  Ant- 
werp in  1874  gave  a  private  company  the  rights  of  operation  in  the. 
harbor.  The  company,  however,  was  incompetent,  and  the  city,  in 
order  to  make  the  service  of  the  harbor  adequate  to  the  increasing 
demands  of  commerce,  took  over  the  ownership  and  operation  of 
all  the  harbor  equipment  in  1890,  since  which  time  no  port  on  earth 
has  shown  a  more  remarkable  development.  From  fifth  rank  in 
1870  the  port  has  risen  to  second  in  all  the  world  in  1906,  with  19,- 
662,000  net  register  tons  entered  and  cleared ;  and  in  the  last  decade 
her  rate  of  increase  has  been  most  rapid  of  all. 

Port  Facilities. — Antwerp  illustrates  as  well  as  any  port  that 
can  be  named,  the  fact  shown  in  various  lands,  that  in  proportion 
as  good  harbor  facilities  are  provided  the  traffic  of  the  port  and 
country  have  expanded.  "It  is  an  invariable  rule  that  harbor  de- 
velopment on  modern  lines  is  immediately  followed  by  new  shipping 
and  increased  trade"  (Stephens).  Let  Chicago  take  notice. 

The  total  linear  wharfage  of  Antwerp  is:  Of  riverside  quays, 
3y2  miles,  which  can  accommodate  about  40  vessels  at  a  time ;  and 
of  docks,  11  miles,  accommodating  a  very  large  number  of  boats  of 
all  sizes,  from  the  canal  barges  and  Rhine  boats  to  the  largest  ocean 
vessels. 

There  are  on  the  average  about  250  ocean-going  vessels  in 
port  at  a  time,  and  several  hundred  smaller  boats.  Nowhere  else  in 

56 


A  row  of  Antwerp  Municipal  Warehouses,  as  clean  and  neat  in 
exterior  as  a  series  of  Art  Galleries. 


the  score  of  great  ports  visited,  save  at  Hamburg,  was  there  evident 
so  much  activity  in  shipping. 

There  is  most  excellent  service  in  sheds  and  cranes.  The  sheds 
are  about  360x195  feet,  and  sheds  and  tracks  arc  arranged  so  that 
each  shed  with  its  trackage  is  a  unit.  The  area  of  floor  space  in 
sheds  is  over  75  acres.  Almost  all  of  the  sheds  arc  of  the  one-story 
type.  As  a  rule  they  stand  well  back  from  the  edge  of  the  quay 
with  from  one  to  three  railway  tracks  in  front,  making  it  convenient 
to  handle  the  freight  from  the  rail  to  the  ship  direct.  The 
sheds  are  made  of  steel  with  flat  tar  and  gravel  roofs,  and  walls  of 
corrugated  steel,  which  in  the  latest  construction  make  use  of  an 
American  invention,  rolling  up  out  of  the  way  like  a  roll-top  desk. 
The  sheds  along  the  city  front  have  the  roof  made  into  a  broad 
promenade  overlooking  the  river  and  the  shipping,  a  very  pleasant 
feature,  and  one  much  appreciated  by  the  people.  The  floors  of  all 
sheds  are  of  Belgian  block,  and  the  drays  drive  everywhere  through 
them  as  required. 

In  the  newer  installation  the  three  railway  tracks  and  the 
front  of  the  shed  are  served  by  the  finest  cranes  yet  devised.  These 
cranes  have  a  single  rail  of  track  on  the  edge  of  the  quay,  and  rise 
high  above  the  cars  on  the  three  railway  tracks  and  reach  across 
them  to  the  roof  of  the  shed  where  the  other  track  rail  is  placed. 
The  railway  tracks  are  arranged  so  that  service  at  front,  middle 
and  rear  of  the  shed  can  be  given  without  interference  with  trackage 
of  any  other  shed.  Out-freight  accumulates  in  the  shed  on  the  quay 
side  of  the  middle  track,  in-freight  on  the  far  side  from  the  quay. 
The  handling  of  freight  is  most  expeditiously  done;  the  service  is 
very  efficient. 

In  warehouses  the  city  is  again  far  ahead  of  most  other  ports. 
The  city  owns  six  great  buildings  of  absolutely  fireproof  construc- 
tion. Across  the  street  from  the  main  quay  and  sheds  on  the  river 
front,  four  of  these  buildings  stand  in  an  impressive  row.  They 
are  four  stories  high,  of  ferro-concrete,  faced  with  cream-colored 
repressed  brick,  and  have  much  architectural  merit.  They  are  sep- 
arated from  each  other  by  stone-paved  courts  of  generous  width  for 
fire  protection.  They  are  really  beautiful  buildings,  and  they  offer  as 
clean  and  neat  an  exterior  as  a  series  of  art  galleries.  Railway 
tracks  run  on  the  ground  level  along  the  mid-line  of  the  series,  to 
serve  them  all.  Freight  elevators  serve  all  floors;  the  rooms  are 
separated  from  each  other  by  concrete  walls  and  entrance  to  any 
room  is  by  the  elevator  or  by  a  concrete  balcony  on  the  outside  of 
the  building.  Nowhere  else  is  there  such  absolute  security  provided 

17 


for  goods  in  storage.  These  warehouses  are  rented  by  the  month, 
the  rental  varying  from  two  cents  per  square  foot  on  the  ground 
floor  to  four  mills  per  square  foot  on  the  top  floor. 

Inland  Transportation. — The  railways  are  owned  and  run  by  the 
government  in  Belgium.  The  state  is  equally  interested  in  develop- 
ing the  interior  waterways.  There  are  over  1 ,200  miles  of  canals  in 
Belgium  alone,  and  these  canals  join  as  in  one  great  system  with 
those  of  Holland,  France  and  Germany.  The  railways  have  through 
service  to  the  great  centers  in  the  adjoining  countries.  All  the 
transportation  interests  focus  upon  the  harbor  and  conditions  are 
thus  ideal  for  a  development  without  friction  of  all  the  agencies  of 
transportation.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  this  port  shows  such 
phenomenal  growth.  In  1870  the  net  register  tonnage  of  ocean 
vessels  entered  was  1,100,000,  while  in  1907  it  rose  to  over  11,000,- 


Table  of  Tonnage  Entered  at 
Antwerp,  1850-1907 

See  Kinart,  Page  70 

Tons. 

1850    200,000 

1860    425,000 

1870    1,100,000 

1880    2,600,000 

1890    4,500,000 

1900    6,700,000 

1907    11,181,226 


000.  In  1904  there  were  73  different  navigation  companies  doing  a 
regular  business  in  the  port.  With  the  expansion  of  the  harbor  the 
interior  waterways  have  had  a  phenomenal  development.  In  the 
thirty-four  years  the  tonnage  has  been  multiplied  by  seven,  while 
the  average  boat  has  grown  to  five  times  its  size  in  1870.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  boats  enter  with  about  seven-eighths  of  a  full 
load  on  the  average,  and  leave  with  about  four-fifths  of  a  full  load. 
The  railway  traffic  has  had  a  similar  development,  though  less 
strongly  marked.  Less  than  a  million  tons  were  received  by  rail  in 
1870  and  over  four  and  a  half  million  tons  came  by  rail  in  1903. 
This  is  an  increase  of  five  times  in  thirty-three  years.  In  1903  the 
freight  received  by  rail  and  boat  was:  By  rail,  2,369,563  tons;  by 
boat  on  canals  and  river,  5,529,673  tons.  This  is  a  very  striking 
comparison  and  should  be  food  for  thought  for  us  in  Chicago.  Here 
is  Antwerp,  second  port  in  the  world,  receiving  more  than  twice  as 

58 


much  freight  from  the  interior  waterways  as  is  received  by  rail. 
Think  what  we  could  do  in  Chicago's  hinterland  with  water  trans- 
portation, if  there  were  the  same  emphasis  laid  upon  its  development 
as  is  given  to  the  railways. 

For  the  traffic  of  the  Rhine  a  special  boat  has  been  developed. 
It  is  made  of  steel,  runs  to  400  feet  in  length,  to  47  feet  in  beam, 
but  draws  less  than  10  feet  of  water  even  when  its  load  is  3,500 
tons.  The  largest  of  these  boats  do  not  come  to  Antwerp,  but  they 
are  common  at  Rotterdam  and  will  be  more  fully  described  later. 
The  harbor  is  full  of  these  boats  at  all  times.  Some  of  them  have 
their  own  power,  and  draw  a  train  of  barges  not  so  supplied.  They 
do  a  great  service  as  lighters,  loading  and  unloading  the  great  ves- 
sels as  they  lie  at  the  quay.  They  also  do  a  very  great  warehouse 
service,  holding  the  merchant's  stock  a  year  or  more  if  necessary, 
ready  to  deliver  at  any  time  and  place  desired. 

Growth  of  City  and  Port. — In  the  thirty  years  from  1874  to 
1904  the  city  of  Antwerp  increased  in  population  from  153,169  to 
301,647.  That  is,  the  city  doubled  in  population,  while  its  commerce 
increased  between  five  and  seven  times.  Antwerp  is  a  commercial 
rather  than  an  industrial  town.  And  the  business  men  of  Antwerp 
are  perfectly  well  aware  of  their  commercial  advantage.  They  have 
worked  as  one  man  to  develop  their  port  to  its  present  high  standing, 
and  they  see  the  possibilities,  of  an  unlimited  future  development. 
The  old  docks  built  by  Napoleon  a  hundred  years  ago,  stone  walls 
and  quays  most  substantial,  are  as  busy  as  ever,  though  because  of 
shallow  sills,  taking  only  the  lesser  vessels.  A  cluster  of  newer  docks 
has  been  added  to  the  northward,  all  of  them  closed  off  by  gates 
from  the  15  feet  of  tide  in  the  river.  The  construction  is  of  the  fin- 
est; of  concrete,  brick  or  stone  faced,  coped  with  granite,  the  quays 
paved  with  granite  blocks  and  brick.  And  though  the  capacity  of 
the  harbor  has  been  doubled  and  trebled  in  the  last  thirty  years,  the 
demand  pushes  hard  on  construction.  So  the  city  has,  after  mature 
consideration,  planned  a  marvelous  great  harbor  extension,  which, 
if  carried  out  in  full,  will  make  the  harbor  of  Antwerp  the  finest  in 
the  world.  The  docks  and  basins  of  the  harbor  are  now  at  the 
north  or  down-stream  end  of  the  town,  where  the  river  bends  sharply 
to  the  west.  There  are  now  nine  docks  connected  by  locks  clustered 
around  this  bend.  The  ninth  and  farthest  north  is  the  first  stage  in 
the  new  extension  (Fig.  13,  p.  55).  The  plan  isqpltimately  to  provide 
a  new  channel  for  the  river  for  five  miles  to  the  northwest,  making  a 
continuation  of  the  broad  curve  which  approaches  the  city  from  the 

59 


south,  and  cutting  off  seven  miles  of  the  present  river  which  extends 
west  of  the  present  docks.  This  will  remove  two  very  sharp  curves 
in  the  channel  and  will  provide  a  tideless  basin  six  miles  long  for  an 
anchorage.  The  great  dock  system  will  lie  to  the  northeast  of  the 
new  channel,  and  parallel  with  it,  and  will  consist  of  a  channel  750 
feet  wide  and  four  and  five-eighths  miles  in  length,  connecting  with 
the  river  by  a  lock  at  the  northwest  or  down-stream  end.  Opening 
off  from  this  channel  to  the  eastward  are  nine  slips  600  feet  wide 
by  about  4,000  feet  long,  to  be  lined  on  each  side  by  sheds  and  rail- 
way tracks.  There  will  be  three  turning  basins  of  1,300  feet  diame- 
ter placed  about  a  mile  and  a  half  apart,  and  at  the  western  end  a 
turning  basin  of  about  1,600  feet  diameter.  Land  has  been  reserved 
all  around  this  extension  for  railway  trackage  and  warehousing,  and 
running  completely  round  the  docks,  and  through  the  reservation  a 
grand  boulevard  and  pleasure  drive  will  be  built.  The  land  reserved 
for  this  extension  is  five  miles  long  and  2]/2  miles  at  the  widest,  and 
has  an  area  of  over  eight  square  miles.  The  first  half  mile  of  this 
new  dock  system  is  already  in  commission,  and  though  not  quite 
finished,  it  is  crowded  with  ships  and  barges,  serving  to  its  limit 
even  before  sheds  and  tracks  can  be  supplied.  It  is  the  plan  now  to 
begin  construction  on  the  next  section,  consisting  of  two  slips  and  a 
turning  basin,  just  as  soon  as  this  first  section  is  completed. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  entire  group  of  new  docks  will  cost 
$55,000.000,  exclusive  of  the  river  diversion,  and  will  give  Antwerp 
a  total  of  38  miles  of  quay,  and  five  miles  of  quiet  anchorage  in  the 
old  bed  of  the  Schelde.  The  total  capital  cost  of  the  port  to  date  is 
$45.000,000. 

The  Port  of  Rotterdam 

The  logical  gateway  to  the  rich  Rhine  valley  is  the  mouth  of 
the  Rhine  river  and  Rotterdam  occupies  this  position  of  advantage. 
With  the  richest  part  of  Europe  as  a  hinterland,  this  fortunate  port 
is  placed  quite  as  favorably  for  handling  the  traffic  of  the  world  as 
is  London.  But  between  the  city  and  the  sea  lies  nineteen  miles  of 
the  mud  flats  of  the  Meuse  distributary  of  the  Rhine,  rapidly  silting 
and  treacherously  shifting  in  channel.  So  long  as  boats  drew  only 
10  feet  of  water,  the  passage  from  Rotterdam  to  the  sea  at  times  of 
flood  tide  was  made  with  no  great  difficulty.  But  during  the  nine- 
teenth century  boats  were  increasing  rapidly  in  size,  and  for  lack 
of  channel  and  harbor  facilities  the  town  was  being  left  on  one  side 
in  the  world  of  commerce.  The  merchants  of  Rotterdam  worked 
vigorously  to  improve  the  harbor,  and  succeeded  in  having  the  gov- 

60 


eminent  cut  a  new  and  direct  channel  from  Vlaardingen  14  miles  to 
the  sea.  This  channel  was  finally  completed  in  18%  at  a  cost  of 
about  $9,000,000.  This  New  Waterway,  as  it  is  called,  now  gives  a 
free  channel  of  27  feet  at  low  water  up  to  the  quays  of  Rotterdam. 
Administration. — Rotterdam  is  a  very  old  port,  and  its  history 
has  been  a  checkered  one,  but  only  the  latest  events  are  of  signifi- 
cance to  us  at  this  time.  In  the  middle  of  last  century  the  need  of 
better  harbor  facilities  was  pressing,  and  charmed  with  the  success 
of  the  trust  administration  in  some  of  the  larger  ports  of  Britain,  a 
private  company  was  formed  in  1873  and  the  port  given  over  to  its 
management.  But  the  upbuilding  of  a  great  port  was  too  large  an 
undertaking  for  the  private  corporation  and  after  sinking  nearly 
$6.000,000  in  the  venture,  it  failed  to  meet  its  interest  obligations, 


ROTTERDAM  ER  KAMAL 


Fig.  14.    The  New  Waterway,  Rotterdam  to  the  Sea. 

and  in  1882  its  rights  were  canceled  by  the  city,  the  entire  harbor 
ownership  and  management  being  assumed  by  the  municipality. 
Then  a  vigorous,  earnest,  determined  policy  of  development  was 
inaugurated  which  has  worked  wonders.  The  plan  of  organization 
adopted  is  that  of  a  strict  and  complete  municipal  monopoly.  The 
harbor  problem  is  attacked  as  a  matter  of  common  public  concern, 
just  as  are  the  questions  of  water  supply,  gas,  electric  light,  the  care 
of  streets  and  the  like.  The  harbor  affairs  are  handled  as  part  of  the 
regular  city  business.  The  construction  is  in  the  hands  of  the  office 
of  Public  Works,  and  the  City  Engineer  s  office  has  the  engineering 
part  of  it  in  hand.  The  collector  is  a  city  official.  The  policing  of 
the  harbor  is  part  of  the  regular  work  of  the  city  police  department. 
In  short,  every  detail  in  the  construction  and  conservation  of  the 
port  is  city  work,  recognized  as  a  most  important  part  of  the  dry 

61 


administration.  For  it  is  very  plainly  perceived  in  Rotterdam  that 
the  development  of  the  port  is  the  sole  means  of  giving  her  mer- 
chants an  equal  chance  at  the  great  prize  of  international  traffic. 

That  this  type  of  port  administration  has  been  the  best  possible 
for  the  city  and  her  merchants,  there  isn't  a  shadow  of  doubt,  as  the 
record  of  her  phenomenal  growth  most  amply  proves. 

Port  Facilities. — The  New  Meuse  river  flows  through  the  town 
and  forms  practically  one  large  harbor  basin.  The  current  is  slight, 
and  the  tidal  range  is  only  about  4  feet,  hence  no  gates  or  locks  are 
necessary.  The  material  to  be  handled  is  all  mud  or  sand,  hence  the 
problems  of  construction  are  relatively  simple.  The  case  is  almost 

IPocar  or 


Fig.  15.     The  Port  of  Rotterdam  showing  the  Waalhaven  Extension. 

identical  with  ours  at  Chicago.  In  the  river  a  series  of  62  buoys 
provides  for  the  mooring  of  32  sea-going  ships  at  a  time.  Along  the 
river  on  either  bank  are  quays  and  havens,  or  basins  opening  off 
from  the  river,  57  separate  quays  and  docks  in  all,  having  a  linear 
quay  extension  of  23  miles  and  a  water  area  of  460  acres.  New 
basins  have  been  added  from  time  to  time  in  the  last  twenty  years, 
but  as  in  Antwerp,  the  demand  for  docks  and  anchorage  presses 
hard  upon  the  supply.  So  there  is  adopted  the  plan  of  making  a 
new  great  basin,  the  Waalhaven,  on  the  left  margin  of  the  Meuse  to 
the  southwest  of  the  town  toward  the  sea.  This  addition  will  more 
than  double  the  water  area  of  the  port,  and  the  first  two  slips,  or 

62 


about  one-tenth  of  the  entire  area,  are  already  dredged  out  and  in 
use  for  the  mooring  of  sea-going  vessels. 

Sheds  are  not  so  much  in  evidence  here  as  elsewhere,  as  a  great 
deal  of  the  loading  and  unloading  is  done  in  the  open  basin,  the 
vessels  lying  moored  at  dolphins  and  flocks  of  barges  and  Rhine 
boats  pressing  round  to  serve  the  freight  to  or  from  the  ship. 

Inland  Transportation. — Two  systems  of  railway,  one  owned, 
the  other  controlled  by  the  state,  put  Rotterdam  in  close  connection 
with  the  industrial  centers  of  the  hinterland.  A  belt  railway  line 
close  round  the  town  connects  all  the  railway  tracks  and  serves  all 
the  quays  on  either  bank  of  the  river.  This  belt  line  is  a  city  under- 
taking also.  But  of  far  greater  importance  is  the  Rhine  and  its 
tributaries,  and  the  network  of  canals  all  over  the  Netherlands  and 
reaching  on  into  Belgium,  France  and  Germany.  Focusing  on  Rot- 
terdam as  the  point  of  greatest  commercial  opportunity  are  130 
lines  of  steamboats  and  360  lines  of  sailing  vessels  plying  the  waters 
of  the  interior. 

Rotterdam  is  growing  very  rapidly  as  a  port  of  trans-shipment 
for  northwest  Europe,  sharing  in  this  trade  with  Antwerp  and 
Hamburg.  All  three  of  these  ports  are  taking  over  this  important 
trade  from  London;  for  London  is  not  holding  her  own  in  this 
traffic.  The  up-Rhine  flow  of  freight  is  thus  largely  a  matter  of 
trans-shipment  at  Rotterdam  and  Antwerp.  So  it  will  be  instructive 
to  set  down  here  a  record  of  the  traffic  entered  at  Rotterdam  (see 
de  Jongh :  le  Port  de  Rotterdam,  7th  Edn.,  p.  26) . 

Number  of  Ocean-going  Vessels  Entering  Rotterdam,  and  their 

Net  Register  Tonnage.     Also  Number  of  Boats  Engaged  in 

Inland  Water  Traffic,  and  their  Total  Capacity  in 

Cubic  Meters,  1850-1907 


Years 

Vessels  entered. 

River  and  Canal  Boats 
Entered. 

Number 

Net  Reg.  ton? 

Number 

Total  cubic 
meters 

1850    

1940 
2449 
2973 
3456 
4535 
7268 
8302 
9375 

346,180 
592,978 
1,026.348 
1,681,650 
2,918,425 
6,326.901 
8.374.6S3 
10,197,502 

I860    

1870    

4,008,188 
6,916.442 
15,044,049 
20.801.979 
24.643.711 

1880    

6S.542 
89.969 
11  ",845 
132,230 
143.2*2 

1800    

1900    

1905    

1907    

63 


This  record  shows  the  ocean  traffic  of  the  port  trebled  in  fifty 
years,  but  it  shows  also  the  internal  water  traffic  multiplying  itself 
by  six  in  twenty-seven  years.  This  is  most  illuminating  as  showing 
what  waterways  may  do  where  governments  are  interested  in  their 
development.  All  rivers  and  canals  in  Holland,  Germany  and 
France  are  free  to  all  navigators,  no  tolls  at  all  being  charged  except 
on  certain  canalized  portions  of  the  rivers  Meuse  and  Main.  The 
weight  of  traffic  down  the  Rhine  has  increased  from  4.6  million  tons 
in  1888  to  16  million  tons  in  1906.  Almost  82  per  cent  of  this  traf- 
fic is  directed  to  Rotterdam.  The  increase  in  this  Rhine  traffic  has 
given  rise  to  a  special  type  of  boat,  the  Rhine  boat,  very  long,  very 
flat  and  with  a  surprisingly  shallow  draft.  The  proportions  are 


Fig.  17.     Plan,  elevation  and  cross-section  of  Rhineboat.     (After  Kinart.) 

shown  in  the  following  illustration  (T?ig.  16)  and  in  the  drawings 
(Fig.  17),  in  which  drawing,  plan  elevation  and  cross  section  are 
drawn  to  scale  in  meters.  These  boats  are  made  of  steel,  the  latest 
and  largest  ones  are  over  460  feet  long  and  carry  3,500  tons  of 
goods  and  over,  with  a  draft  of  only  9  feet  when  fully  loaded.  The 
Rhine  only  offers  a  channel  9  feet  9  inches  (3  meters)  deep  up  to 
Cologne,  and  6  feet  6  inches  (2  meters)  to  Mannheim.  These  Rhine 
boats  go  tandem  from  two  to  five  in  a  string,  drawn  by  a  tug  or  by 
one  of  their  number  which  is  supplied  with  its  own  power.  Tri'ey 
are  a  very  familiar  sight  upon  the  Rhine.  Being  very  efficient  as 
carriers,  their  use  is  growing  rapidly. 

There  is  even  a  service  of  these  Rhine  Boats  from  the  river 
towns  to  the  seacoast  towns  of  Europe.    Cologne  and  Ruhrort  have 

64 


thus  become  seaports,  doing  business  with  St.  Petersburg,  Riga, 
Danzig,  Stettin,  Kiel,  Copenhagen,  Hamburg,  Bremen,  London  and 
several  ports  in  the  Mediterranean.  This  service  is  of  recent  estab- 
lishment, and  already  handles  between  3  per  cent  and  5  per  cent  of 
the  total  traffic  of  the  Rhine. 

The  merchants  of  Chicago  should  take  note.  This  service  is 
already  demonstrated.  It  should  certainly  be  no  more  difficult  to 
establish  a  service  of  the  Rhine  boat  type  on  the  Mississippi  river 
and  make  the  service  to  all  lake  ports,  than  to  do  this  coasting  trade 
in  Europe  from  the  Rhine  towns.  Chicago  may  well  hope  to  become 
a  greater  focus  of  this  trade  than  is  Rotterdam,  for  our  hinterland  is 
many  times  richer  and  our  opportunities  much  greater. 

The  following  table  is  interesting  as  showing  not  only  the  in- 
crease in  Rhine  traffic  in  the  past  fifteen  years,  but  also  in  showing 
the  great  supremacy  of  Rotterdam: 

Growth  in  Up-Rhine  Traffic  in  Metric  Tons 

Van  Ysselsteyn  (1908)  p.  171 


Year 

Amsterdam 

Rotterdam 

Belgium 

1890    

170,365 

2,582,791 

1,165,457 

1895    

242,315 

3,980,127 

1,571,765 

1900     

446,837 

7,845,544 

2,604,632 

1905     

478,920 

12,771.307 

4,435,580 

1907     

597,518 

14,762,226 

4,937.737 

In  all  the  statistics  so  far  given,  no  record  has  been  made  of  the 
small  canal  craft,  market  boats,  lighters  and  the  like.  About  123,500 
such  small  craft  enter  the  harbor  yearly,  and  they  represented  in 
1907  a  carrying  capacity  of  about  25,000,000  cubic  meters.  As  in 
Antwerp  and  Hamburg,  there  is  an  extensive  use  made  of  all  these 
barges  and  Rhine  boats  as  warehouses.  No  harbor  dues  whatever 
are  charged  the  small  boats,  only  a  sort  of  annual  registration  fee 
is  collected.  So  they  are  cheap  and  advantageous  as  warehouses. 
The  small  boats  a  generation  ago  were  largely  drawn  by  horses. 
Now  the  horse  has  practically  disappeared  and  there  is  a  large  and 
growing  use  of  petroleum  motors  for  the  propulsion  of  these  small 
craft,  and  the  waterways  of  Holland  are  dotted  with  them. 

The  relation  of  total  tonnage  of  river  craft  and  barges  to  sea- 

65 


going  vessels  is  as  10  to  11,  or  10  to  12,  a  ratio  that  holds  rather 
constant  with  the  growth  of  the  port.  The  growth  of  railway  traf- 
fic is  not  so  marked.  For  railway  carriage  is  not  used  at  all  for  the 
cheaper  and  bulkier  commodities,  except  when  low  water  in  the 
upper  Rhine  causes  very  high  freights  on  water.  The  following 
table  shows  the  increase  in  railway  tonnage  for  a  period  of  years : 

Increase  in  Railway  Traffic  at  Rotterdam 

See  Van  Ysselsteyn  (1908)  p.  173 


Year 

Goods 
sent 

Goods 
Receiver! 

Total 
Tons 

1895     

799,110  tons 

703,429 

1  502,559 

1900    

812  392 

962,319 

1  774  711 

1905     

626,767      " 

1,440,763 

2,067  f>30 

1906     

674,275      " 

1  35^  718 

?  0°9  993 

By  comparing  the  two  tables  one  sees  that  the  total  railway 
traffic  of  2,029,993  tons  in  1906  is  only  about  one-sixth  of  the  goods 
carried  by  the  canal  and  river  boats. 

The  Growth  of  the  City. — Though  the  city  of  Rotterdam  is  a 
very  old  one,  receiving  the  rights  of  a  city  in  1340,  it  was  never  a 
large  city  until  a  modern  harbor  was  provided,  giving  its  merchants 
an  opening  in  international  trade.  In  1850  the  city  had  only  90,000 
inhabitants.  This  had  grown  in  1900  to  320,000,  and  now  in  1908 
it  has  over  400,000,  or  about  7  per  cent  of  the  entire  population  of 
Holland.  This  rapid  growth  is  plainly  recognized  by  all  as  being 
due  to  the  development  of  the  port. 

It  would  be  hard  to  find  a  city  so  small  as  Rotterdam  which  has 
undertaken  so  large  a  scheme  of  development  with  such  signal  suc- 
cess. The  vigor  of  the  people  and  the  faith  in  the  future  have  made 
the  ventures  step  by  step,  resulting  in  one  of  the  world's  greatest 
ports.  From  1870  to  1908  the  city  has  spent  in  harbor  construction 
and  equipment  the  sum  of  $30,827,062.  This  sum  includes  the  city's 
10  per  cent  share  of  the  cost  of  making  the  New  Waterway  to  the 
sea,  and  also  includes  what  has  been  paid  for  bridges  and  for  real 
estate  condemned  for  harbor  extension,  some  part  of  which  is  re- 
sold at  a  large  profit.  Subtracting  such  investments,  the  capital  cost 
of  the  harbor  since  1870  is  probably  not  far  from  $20,000,000.  This 

66 


has  been  spent  by  the  city  alone.    Not  a  dollar  has  been  contributed 
by  the  general  government. 

On  the  various  services  the  city  renders  in  the  port  a  generous 
income  is  realized,  as  the  latest  reports  show.  Van  Ysselsteyn  gives 
the  income  the  city  receives  directly  from  the  harbor  activities  for 
the  year  ending  July  1,  1908,  as  2,989,850  florins,  or  $1,195,940. 
Thus  as  a  pure  business  proposition,  the  municipality  is  earning 
about  5  per  cent  on  its  capital  investment. 

The  Port  of  Hamburg 

The  strictly  German  ports  of  Bremen  and  Hamburg  show  us 
much  the  same  development  as  Rotterdam.  And  since  they  are  so 
nearly  alike,  a  special  study  of  one  of  them  will  suffice,  and  for  our 
purpose  the  best  lesson  will  be  found  in  the  case  of  the  larger  city 
of  Hamburg. 

The  Hinterland. — The  basin  of  the  Elbe  river  is  primarily  the 
hinterland  of  Hamburg,  and  this  is  a  considerable  valley  reaching 
nearly  400  miles  to  the  southeast,  across  the  German  plain  through  a 
notch  in  the  Erzgebirge,  draining  the  basin  of  Bohemia  and  carrying 
water  transportation  to  far  Budweis  in  Austria.  But  a  network  of 
canals  connects  it  across  the  northern  plain  with  the  navigable  rivers 
Havel,  Oder,  Vistula,  Prezel  and  Niemen,  to  Memel,  the  most 
northeasterly  town  in  the  Empire,  and  to  Ratibor  in  the  far  south- 
eastern corner  of  Silesia. 

This  is  an  extremely  rich  area,  and  there  is  a  large  movement 
of  grain  from  Russia  and  Austro-Hungary  to  the  west,  and  of  sugar 
and  salt  from  the  farms  and  mines  of  Germany.  And  to  the  east- 
ward from  the  Atlantic  go  great  quantities  of  lumber,  grain,  fer- 
tilizers and  the  like.  So  the  Elbe  is  a  very  busy  river,  and  to  the 
network  of  waterways  is  added  a  number  of  great  railways  focusing 
on  Hamburg,  giving  a  large  invitation  to  Hamburg  to  become  a 
great  commercial  metropolis. 

But  there  are  serious  natural  handicaps  against  the  town.  For 
its  location  on  the  muddy  silting  Elbe,  63  miles  from  the  North  Sea, 
has  required  endless  labor  and  skill,  and  the  expenditure  of  a  mint 
of  money  in  order  to  provide  harbor  advantages  for  ocean-going 
craft.  So  what  Hamburg  has  done  is  really  a  record  of  the  energy 
and  wisdom  of  her  business  men,  and  the  character  of  her  port  or- 
ganization and  administration. 

Administration. — Hamburg  is  a  free  state  and,  like  Bremen,  is 

67 


proud  of  being  still  one  of  the  Hansa  towns,  which  in  the  middle 
ages  established  their  independence  from  the  robber  barons,  and 
became  the  guardians  and  promoters  of  commerce  and  all  the  arts  in 
northwest  Europe.  It  is  a  just  and  worthy  pride;  for  to  have 
maintained  persistently  for  seven  centuries  a  stable  and  very  efficient 
government,  guaranteeing  the  security  of  commerce  and  the  rights 
of  the  merchant  and  his  goods,  is  no  small  service.  It  is  a  credit 
that  no  great  nation  can  lay  claim  to. 

But  in  common  with  many  other  ports  of  Europe,  the  rise  of  the 
steel  steamship  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  made  de- 
mands upon  her  port  which  were  not  met.  The  heavy  handicap  of 
63  miles  of  muddy  estuary  held  her  back,  and  the  favors  of  inter- 
national trade  went  to  other  ports  more  favorably  located  or  more 
vigorous  in  meeting  the  new  harbor  requirements. 

About  the  middle  of  the  century  direct  steamship  service  was 
established  with  America  and  then  began  a  long  list  of  improve- 
ments, which  have  resulted  in  making  Hamburg  a  strong  competitor 
for  the  head  of  the  list  of  world  harbors. 

In  Germany  it  is  a  settled  governmental  policy  to  leave  harbor 
development  and  administration  to  the  individual  states.  In  the  case 
of  Hamburg  and  Bremen  the  state  is  coincident  with  the  city,  and  so 
the  harbor  interests  are  in  the  hands  of  the  people  of  the  port. 

In  Hamburg  the  Senate  is  the  ultimate  authority,  but  that  is 
about  the  same  as  saying  for  Chicago  that  it  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
city  council.  So  in  Hamburg  and  Bremen  the  administration  is  to 
all  intents  and  purposes  a  municipal  monopoly.  The  work  of  con- 
struction, care  and  maintenance  is  distributed  among  the  departments 
of  the  city-state  government.  The  funds,  whether  for  new  work 
or  maintenance,  are  raised  by  the  city,  just  as  are  moneys  for  any 
purpose,  by  bond  issues  or  by  taxation.  Harbor  receipts  of  all  kinds 
are  covered  into  the  city  treasury,  and  though  the  intention  is  to  make 
the  harbor  work  pay  its  way  as  nearly  as  possible,  no  attempt  is  made 
to  make  harbor  income  and  outgo  exactly  balance.  When  I  asked  a 
high  official  in  Hamburg  how  great  a  burden  the  large  expense  of. 
harbor  development  had  put  upon  the  taxpayers,  he  replied  with 
some  warmth  that  it  had  put  no  burden  at  all  upon  them,  "Gar 
nichts !" — an  answer  given  with  the  evident  conviction  that  the  har- 
bor income  pays  wholly  for  harbor  improvement  and  harbor  mainte- 
nance. This  is  extremely  creditable  if  true,  for  there  has  been  enor- 
mous outlay  and  practically  every  bit  of  the  facilities  for  present 
ocean  commerce  has  been  provided  within  this  generation. 

68 


A  very  strong  feature  in  the  administration  of  Hamburg  is  that 
of  the  free  harbor.  An  inner  area  covering  about  seven-eighths  of 
the  harbor  area  of  the  city,  but  doing  nearly  all  the  harbor  business, 
is  treated-  as  a  separate  country  in  the  matter  of  tariff.  Goods  com- 
ing into  it  or  going  out  of  it  pay  no  tariff.  On  land  this  area  is  cut 
off  from  the  rest  of  the  city  by  high  walls  or  barriers,  and  every 
entrance  and  exit  is  guarded.  Goods  pass  into  Germany  through  the 
hands  of  customs  officials  and  the  customs  laws  of  Germany  apply. 
But  goods  from  this  free  harbor  may  go  out  by  sea  to  all  the  earth 
unhindered.  So  the  raw  materials  come  in  free  to  factories  main- 
tained within  the  walls,  and  the  finished  product  goes  out  by  sea  un- 
hampered by  tariff  imposition.  Goods  may  be  stored  in  the  ware- 
houses any  length  of  time,  and  reshipped  without  the  payment  of  a 
duty.  If  shipped  to  any  point  in  Germany,  the  duty  is  paid  only  at 
the  time  of  delivery  from  the  free  harbor.  The  privilege  of  storing 
whole  cargoes  duty  free,  from  which  small  orders  may  be  delivered 
at  any  time  to  suit  the  customer,  has  been  of  inestimable  advantage 
to  the  merchants  of  Hamburg.  In  this  free  harbor  ships  may  be 
repaired,  using  duty  free  material  and  home  labor.  As  a  conse- 
quence, Hamburg  has  the  greatest  advantage  of  all  the  ports  of 
Europe  in  the  trans-shipment  business. 

Because  of  these  great  advantages  a  very  extensive  warehouse 
business  is  done  in  the  free  harbor.  The  city-state  supplies  the  land 
and  leases  it  to  a  warehouse  company  called  the  Frei  Hafen 
Lagerungs  Gesellschaft,  a  private  stock  company  which  works  under 
conditions  fixed  by  the  city.  The  city  specifies  the  kind  of  building 
and  regulates  the  charges  and  operations  of  the  company  rather  nar- 
rowly. The  company  is  very  old  and  very  respectable,  a  sort  of 
aristocracy  among  the  merchants. 

Large  factories  are  being  established  in  the  free  harbor.  Two 
of  the  largest  shipbuilding  plants  in  Germany  are  within  the  pale. 

The  manifest  success  of  this  free  harbor  in  Hamburg  merits 
study  by  us  in  America.  It  ought  to  prove  quite  as  profitable  for  us 
here  at  Chicago  as  for  Hamburg,  and  it  should  be  an  advantage  so 
great  to  our  merchants  as  to  put  them  in  control  of  the  markets  of 
half  the  continent. 

Port  Facilities. — The  tide  at  Hamburg  has  a  range  of  only  6*/2 
feet.  Hence  no  locks  or  gates  are  necessary  and  costs  and  prob- 
lems of  construction  are  relatively  simple.  The  river  from  Cuxhaven 
at  the  mouth  has  a  navigable  width  of  650  feet,  and  a  depth  of  26 
feet  at  low  tide,  though  there  is  a  bar  at  one  place  with  only  \6l/2 

69 


feet  at  low  water.  So  all  the  larger  boats  must  wait  for  high  water 
to  go  up  to  Hamburg,  and  the  great  Atlantic  liners  of  the  Hamburg- 
American  line  have  to  lighter  part  of  their  cargo  at  Cuxhaven. 

The  harbor  of  Hamburg  consists  of  the  open  river  and  many 
basins  alongside,  extending  for  five  miles  through  the  heart  of  the 
town.  These  basins  offer  room  for  450  sea-going  vessels  at  a  time. 
They  have  a  total  water  area  of  332  acres  and  there  are  basins  for 
river  craft  with  132  acres  more.  A  network  of  canals  and  the  canal- 
ized Alster  river,  which  joins  the  Elbe  in  the  town,  gives  485  acres 
more  of  water  available  for  small  craft.  And,  as  in  the  other  growing 
ports  still  more  room  is  needed  for  the  increasing  commerce,  new 


Fig.  18.     The  Harbor  of  Hamburg. 

basins  are  being  added  in  the  southwest  or  down-stream  edge  of  the 
town.  This  makes  the  total  water  area  of  the  Hamburg  harbor  1,282 
acres,  which  gives  a  linear  quayage  for  sea-going  vessels  of  over 
fifteen  miles,  and  riverside  accommodation  brings  this  up  to  nineteen 
miles.  In  addition  to  this  there  are  twenty-one  miles  of  riverside 
and  canal  accommodation  for  river  craft.  The  basins  are  made 
broad  and  spacious  and  mooring  posts  or  dolphins  are  provided  in 
great  number,  each  dolphin  consisting  of  a  score  or  more  of  wooden 
piles  driven  into  the  bottom  and  chained  together  into  one  large 
post.  Ships  tying  up  at  these  dolphins  pay  no  wharf  dues.  It  is 
estimated  that  62  per  cent  of  all  the  freight  in  the  harbor  is  handled 
between  the  ship  and  the  barge  direct,  and  about  38  per  cent  over 

70 


the  quays  between  cars  and  ship.  Next  to  nothing  is, handled  to  or 
from  the  ship  by  dray.  These  basin  mooring  places  are  quite  as  busy 
as  the  quays.  Thus  the  berth  accommodation  of  the  port  is  doubled. 

The  sheds  are  of  one  story,  almost  all  of  very  cheap  construc- 
tion, most  of  them  of  wood  with  corrugated  iron  sides.  They  are 
about  160  feet  wide  and  from  360  to  1,300  feet  long.  These  sheds 
have  a  total  area  of  about  91  acres.  Most  of  them  are  set  back  two 
or  three  railway  tracks  from  the  edge  of  the  quay,  and  the  newer 
ones  have  driveways  for  teams  at  rear.  The  older  ones  stand  flush 
upon  the  water's  edge,  because  so  much  of  the  loading  and  unloading 
is  done  by  lighters,  but  even  these  sheds  have  ample  railway  tracks 
at  the  rear. 

The  warehouses  of  the  port  are  a  very  different  matter.  They 
are  almost  universally  of  brick  and  those  within  the  free  harbor  are 
from  6  to  12  stories  high,  standing  in  the  edge  of  the  water,  to  be 
served  directly  from  the  ship  or  barge.  But  most  of  the  106  acres  of 
warehouses  are  distributed  along  the  canals  and  basins  all  over  the 
city,  being  served  mostly  by  the  harbor  barges.  These  barges  are 
everywhere  and  always  busy.  There  are  4,000  of  them  devoted  en- 
tirely to  harbor  service,  and  not  going  out  of  the  city.  As  in  other 
German  ports,  these  barges  serve  extensively  for  warehousing.  As 
many  as  800  of  them  at  a  time  may  be  in  this  service,  and  since  no 
harbor  dues  or  fees  are  assessed  on  them,  they  may  lie  at  anchor  for 
years  at  no  expense,  making  an  additional  incentive  to  their  use  for 
warehousing. 

The  striking  thing  about  the  warehouses  is  their  architectural 
beauty.  The  end  of  a  row  of  warehouses  is  considered  an  architec- 
tural opportunity.  It  is  finished  with  towers  and  spires  and  finials, 
as  fine  as  high-class  residences.  At  the  upper  end  of  Brooksfleth 
canal  the  chapel  of  St.  Ann  some  years  ago  had  to  give  way  for  the 
extension  of  the  warehouses.  But  the  warehouse  is  finished  at 
St.  Ann's  platz  as  nicely  as  a  church  and  even  the  statue  of  St. 
Ann  from  the  old  church  was  given  a  niche  in  the  end  of  the  build- 
ing commanding  the  square. 

This  thoughtfulness  on  the  part  of  the  city  to  have  buildings 
and  premises  beautiful  if  possible,  but  neat  and  clean  in  any  case, 
is  very  striking  in  contrast  to  our  usual  American  condition.  My 
gentlemanly  guide,  the  Harbor  Master,  expressed  the  cultured  Ger- 
man attitude  as  we  passed  St.  Ann's  platz.  "We  believe,"  he  said, 
pointing  to  the  building,  "it  is  worth  while  to  have  things  beautiful 
even  in  the  everyday  working  places  of  men !"  And  that  it  is  worth 

71 


while  every  one  will  testify  who  has  been  in  Hamburg,  for  the  har- 
bor with  its  warehoues  and  ships  is  the  most  attractive  part  of  a  very 
interesting  city. 

Inland  Transportation. — As  in  Rotterdam,  the  inland  waterways 
are  the  principal  feeders  in  the  commerce  of  Hamburg.  There  are 
7,500  miles  of  navigable  rivers  and  canals  in  Germany,  and  these 
waterways  are  absolutely  free  to  all  exactly  the  same  as  our  common 
roads,  and  for  the  same  reason.  Because  of  this  the  traffic  on  the 
waterways  is  wholly  in  private  hands,  and  with  a  multitude  of  private 
owners  of  craft  engaged  in  the  business  of  transportation.  As  a 
result  of  this  free  highway  the  bulky  goods  of  Germany  move 
wherever  possible  by  water.  The  railways  carry  goods  of  less 
bulk  and  more  value. 

In  the  magnificent  annual  report  of  commerce  issued  by  the  city, 
"Hamburg's  Handel  and  Schiffahrt,"  the  commerce  is  recorded  in 
great  detail,  as  traffic  by  rail  and  by  water,  in  and  out  of  the  city, 
weight  and  value  by  articles.  Some  of  these  data  make  very  inter- 
esting reading.  For  example,  in  1906  the  total  weight  and  value 
of  goods  carried  was:  (See  Hamburg's  Handel  ttnd  Schiffahrt, 
1906,  II.,  p.  18-19  and  II.,  11-13.)  From  the  hinterland  to  Hamburg: 
By  rail,  32,884,097  doppelzentners,  valued  at  1,486,553,220  M. ;  by 
water,  35,677,964  doppelzentners,  valued  at  624,512,830  M.  To  the 
hinterland :  By  rail,  17,635,889  dz.,  valued  at  1,147,332,680  marks ; 
by  water,  50,079,383  dz.,  valued  at  986,729,660  marks. 

That  is,  the  tonnage  down  the  Elbe  valley  by  water  and  by 
rail  is  about  the  same,  but  the  value  of  the  goods  carried  by  rail 
about  double  that  carried  by  water.  But  in  the  traffic  up  the  valley 
the  water  carriage  is  about  three  times  the  weight  of  the  railway 
traffic,  with  a  value  less  than  half  that  carried  by  rail.  The  charac- 
ter of  the  goods  carried  by  water  in  1906  up  and  down  the  Elbe  is 
shown  in  the  following  table  (Op.  cit.  I,  pp.  80-81)  : 

UP  THE   ELBE.  DOWN  THE  ELBE. 

P-it-  cent.  Per  cent. 

Coal  and  coke  22.61       Fire   wood    4.45 

Iron     5.64       Salt      18.87 

Saltpetre    4.12      Sugar    33.07 

Guano    18.07      Wares  of  stone,  zinc,  etc 24.16 

Grain    22.37      Gram    1.97 

Package  freight    27.19      Package  freight    17.43 

Total    100.00          Total    100.00 

72 


That  so  much  of  the  traffic  of  the  country  is  done  by  water  is 
not  surprising  when  we  learn  how  freight  rates  compare  between 
rail  and  water.  From  Hamburg  to  Berlin  is  158  miles.  It  costs  1.38 
marks  to  send  100  kilos  (220  pounds)  of  grain  this  distance  by  rail, 
and  but  .3  marks  by  water,  or  about  five  times  as  much  by  rail  as  by 
water.  On  general  merchandise  by  rail  the  rate  is  2.96  M.  per  100 
kilos,  and  by  water  .45  M.,  or  about  six  times  as  much  by  rail  as 
by  boat.  Coal,  ore  and  lumber  do  not  go  up  these  valleys  by  rail  at 
all,  the  rate  by  water  being  comparable  to  that  of  grain. 

From  Hamburg  to  Dresden  is  250  miles  in  a  direct  line.  On 
grain  the  rate  by  rail  is  2.2  marks  per  100  kilos,  by  water  .37  marks, 
or  about  seven  times  as  high  by  rail.  On  general  merchandise  the 
water  rate  is  .4  mark  per  100  kilos,  the  rail  rate  is  4.38  marks,  or 
almost  eleven  times  as  much  by  rail  as  by  water. 

One  other  case  will  be  instructive.  There  is  a  considerable 
traffic  by  boat  between  Hamburg  and  Cologne.  The  direct  distance 
is  about  the  same  as  to  Dresden,  but  boats  must  go  a  long  round- 
about way  down  the  coast  and  up  the  Rhine.  The  rate  on  grain  from 
Hamburg  to  Cologne  by  rail  is  2.04  marks  per  100  kilos,  by  boat 
.75  mark,  or  about  three  times  as  much  by  rail  as  by  boat.  On  gen- 
eral merchandise  the  rate  by  water  is  1.40  marks  per  100  kilos,  by 
rail  4.14  marks,  or  about  three  times  as  high  by  rail  as  by  boat. 

It  is  most  illuminating  to  see  that  in  a  country  where  the  gov- 
ernment owns  or  controls  the  railways,  and  fixes  the  rates  itself,  that 
a  system  of  free  highways  in  rivers  and  canals  should  handle  so 
large  a  fraction  of  the  traffic  of  the  country  at  rates  relatively  so 
low.  It  is  plain  to  see  that  on  our  great  rivers  and  between  them 
and  the  great  lakes  a  water-carrying  power  equal  to  the  railways 
which  parallel  these  waterways  is  lying  fallow  and  undeveloped. 
And  that  if  we  should  make  water  highways  adequate  and  insist 
upon  fair  play  between  rail  and  water  that  Chicago  has  a  most 
splendid  situation  with  reference  to  the  focusing  of  commercial  inter- 
ests in  our  great  central  plain. 

Growth  of  Port  and  City. — In  1866  there  was  next  to  nothing 
in  the  way  of  harbor  equipment  in  Hamburg.  Ships  anchored  in  the 
river  and  unloaded  into  barges,  or  swung  to  at  the  wharf  and  un- 
loaded on  the  open  quay.  Since  the  awakening  in  1866  the  growth 
of  port  and  city  has  been  phenomenal.  The  net  register  tonnage  has 
risen  from  2,857,481  tons  entered  in  1880  to  12,731,749  tons  entered 
in  1907.  It  is  estimated  that  the  total  expenditure  from  1880  to  date 
on  the  harbor  alone,  including  the  auxiliary  harbor  at  Cuxhaven, 

73 


is  about  $100,000,000.  This  does  not  count  the  cost  of  warehouses 
or  equipment,  nor  does  it  count  any  expenditure  for  channel  im- 
provement. The  German  government  takes  care  of  the  channel. 

And  even  with  this  enormous  expenditure,  the  demands  of 
shipping  press  close  on  the  harbor  capacity  and  extensions  are  again 
under  consideration.  Hamburg  in  1907  is  doubtless  the  leading  port 
in  tonnage  in  all  the  world. 


74 


1.  The  Strategic  Position 

2.  The  Hinterland 

3.  How  Chicago  Became  a  Metropolis 

4.  The  Manifest  Destiny 

5.  Planning  for  the  Future 


II.    Chicago's  Commercial 
Opportunity 


One  of  the  remarkable  phenomena  of  the  nineteenth  century 
was  the  magical  rise  of  Chicago.  From  a  struggling  village  sunk 
in  the  mud  of  a  prairie  creek  it  rose  within  the  memory  of  living 
men  to  a  great  metropolis,  ranking  fifth  in  the  roll  of  the  world's 
great  cities. 

It  was  inevitable  that  Chicago  should  assume  this  rank,  for 
Chicago  is  a  city  of  destiny.  The  record  of  the  past  lies  open,  and 
he  who  will  may  run  the  gamut  of  the  causes  which  have  worked 
together  in  the  production  of  the  present  metropolis.  And  if  this  be 
wisely  done,  we  shall  be  in  a  position  to  evaluate  the  resources  and 
forces  geographic  and  economic  which  condition  our  future  growth. 
And  so  we  can  plan  sanely  for  a  long  future  and  for  a  greater  city 
than  has  yet  been. 

1.     The  Strategic  Position 

Chicago  has  developed  in  an  era  of  dominant  East- West  traffic. 
For  the  traffic  of  America  up  to  date  has  been  most  largely  a  sending 
of  raw  materials  to  the  old  and  densely  populated  lands  of  western 
Europe,  and  receiving  back  the  manufactured  articles  which  such 
peoples  produce.  Few  people  realize  what  a  large  fraction  of  the 
world's  commerce  it  is,  which  goes  on  across  the  North  Atlantic.  In 
the  accompanying  map  (Fig.  19)  the  world's  ocean  commerce  is 
graphically  represented  by  the  shaded  bands  across  the  seas  between 
the  various  ports.  The  broader  the  band  the  greater  the  flow  of 
traffic.  One  can  see  at  a  glance  that  the  great  bulk  of  the  ocean 
trade  goes  on  between  the  ports  of  Northwest  Europe  and  our  Atlan- 
tic ports  at  the  northeast.  The  only  other  flow  of  trade  comparable 
is  that  from  the  same  European  ports  to  the  Orient  and  to  the 
Tropics.  The  trade  of  the  Pacific-Indian  ocean,  and  our  trade  with 
the  Tropics  are  insignificant  compared  with  this  traffic  of  the  north 
Atlantic.  This  great  flow  of  trade  from  West  Europe  to  the  Tropics 
should  be  remembered  with  reference  to  Chicago's  future.  We,  too, 
have  a  potential  highway  leading  to  the  Tropics,  which  we  shall 
some  day  use. 

77 


Fig.  19.     The  flow  of  ocean  commerce. 


no  _  iif         no          iff         too          if 


if          to  if  -n 


Fig.  20.     Map  of  U.  S.  A.  to  show  the  eastern  lowlands.     Contours  of 

500,  1,500  and  2,000  feet.     The  cross-hachured  area  is  less  than 

500  feet  above  the  sea.     The  diagonal  shading  is  land 

between  500  and   1,500  feet.     The  solid  black 

is  over  1,500  feet  above  sea  level. 


78 


The  next  element  of  advantage  in  the  growth  of  Chicago  is  the 
fact  of  our  location  in  the  heart  of  the  great  American  lowland, 
which,  smooth  and  fertile,  covers  the  eastern  half  of  our  country. 
The  significance  of  this  is  patent  when  we  recall  that  over  90  per 
cent  of  the  world's  food  supply  and  population  are  found  on  the  land 
below  an  elevation  of  2,000  feet.  This  great  eastern  lowland  of  ours 
in  addition  to  a  matchless  climate,  inviting  the  production  of  the 
great  cereal  and  other  crops,  and  the  growth  of  forests,  has  the 
smooth  surface  which  invites  the  building  of  roads  and  railways,  and 
the  use  of  labor-saving  farming  machinery.  And  this  eastern  low- 


(Fig.  21.) 

land  compares  favorably  with  all  Europe  in  the  productive  power  of 
its  mines  and  soils.  Chicago's  superlative  advantage  lies  in  her 
position  in  the  heart  of  this  splendidly  productive  area.  And  in  this 
area  a  peculiar  influence  compels  the  growth  of  a  great  commercial 
focus  at  Chicago,  and  that  is  the  size  and  position  of  Lake  Michigan, 
•which  spreads  its  awkward  300  miles  of  deep  water  right  athwart  the 
lines  of  east-west  traffic,  so  compelling  land  lines  of  transportation 
to  concentrate  round  the  southern  end  of  the  lake.  The  flat  land, 
the  fertile  soil,  the  markets  at  the  east  and  the  Great  Lakes  compel  a 
metropolis  at  the  place  of  Chicago.  That  is  why  the  27  railway 
systems  focus  at  Chicago,  making  the  greatest  railway  center  on 

79 


earth.  For  railways  are  built  where  it  pays  to  build  them,  where 
there  is  freight  to  be  carried.  Let  us  take  an  account  of  stock  of 
the  resources  of  the  hinterland  of  Chicago,  so  we  may  be  sure  why 
we  are  great,  and  how  much  growth  is  yet  to  come  from  the  re- 
sources assured. 

2.     The  Hinterland 

The  region  round  Chicago,  which  looks  to  Chicago  as  the  mar- 
ket of  its  chief  commodities,  and  to  the  Chicago  merchants  for  a 
goodly  share  of  their  purchases,  is  what  is  considered  our  hinter- 


HU>  <K 


Fig.  22.     The  chief  American  coalfields. 

land.  Roughly,  this  is  an  area  while  only  extending  eastward  into 
Michigan  and  Ohio,  reaches  on  the  south,  west  and  northwest  from 
750  to  1.000  miles  and  over.  This  is  an  area  rich  in  mineral  re- 
sources, and  the  richest  area  of  the  size  on  earth  in  the  matter  of 
soils.  It  is  this  area  which  produces  the  most  of  the  limestone  and 
cement  rock,  which  in  1906  were  valued  at  $55,000,000.  The  Amer- 
ican output  of  coal,  which  in  1907  was  370,000,000  tons  and  valued 
at  $513,079,809,  was  about  one-fourth  of  it  produced  in  the  Chicago 
area,  and  the  great  Pittsburg  field,  which  produces  nearly  one-half 
of  the  American  coal,  is  not  so  far  away  but  it  furnishes  us  a  deal 
of  coal  and  coke,  both  by  lake  and  rail. 

80 


Then  there  are  the  metals.  Very  rich  deposits  of  iron,  copper, 
lead  and  zinc  contribute  to  the  wealth  of  the  Chicago  region.  Of 
these,  the  iron  output  of  the  country  was  alone  in  1907  worth  $529,- 
958,000,  about  80  per  cent  of  which  was  taken  from  the  mines  in  the 
Lake  Superior  region.  This  iron  is  mostly  worked  up  in  the  Pitts- 
burg  region,  because  the  coke,  the  limestone  and  the  markets  are 
there,  and  the  Great  Lakes  provide  the  cheapest  of  all  transportation. 
The  map  (Fig.  23)  shows  these  relations,  and  it  also  shows  us  how 


m  ORE  SHIPPING  ROUTES 

&aflftlEJSlM7J/ 
7WMZZJ&V7OMS 


Fig.  23.     The  source  and  destination  of  our  iron  ore. 

very  small  our  share  is  in  that  iron  industry.  Cheaper  (water  borne) 
coal  would  give  us  a  larger  share.  We  could  have  the  cheaper  coal 
by  supplying  the  waterways  to  the  south — a  thing  we  will  do  when 
we  are  awake  to  the  opportunity. 

But  better  than  all  the  minerals  and  ores  is  the  Hat  land,  the 
fertile  soil  and  the  good  climate  of  the  Chicago  area.  A  mine  yields 
but  one  crop,  and  the  resource  is  gone  forever.  But  these  rich  soils 
will  keep  on  producing  their  great  crops  for  tomorrow's  ten  thou- 
sand years.  And  it  is  the  crops  from  these  rich  farms  more  than  all 

81 


the  minerals  which  has  made  America  great  and  Chicago  a  metropo- 
lis. The  soils  in  the  Chicago  region  (Fig.  24)  are  the  richest  on  the 
continent.  This  is  because  they  are  new  soils,  contributed  by  the 
melting  ice  sheet  of  the  Great  Ice  Age ;  soils  gathered  from  the  thou- 
sand miles  of  Canada  passed  over  in  the  southward  flow  of  the  great 
ice.  Such  soils  have  all  the  constituents  needed  by  vegetation.  The 
area  of  this  rich  soil,  once  known,  can  be  discerned  in  the  maps  show- 
ing the  distribution  of  corn,  wheat,  oats,  hogs,  cattle,  improved  land, 
cities  and  railways.  And  we  have  only  begun  to  develop  the  possibil- 
ities of  this  new  soil.  Let  us  look  at  a  few  of  these  rich  crops,  remem- 
bering that  it  is  the  toll  on  these  commodities  which  has  made  Chi- 


tar  na 


V  10 


Fig.  24.     Area  of  glacial  soil. 

cago  grow  great  and  New  York  far  greater.  They  are  the  bank 
account  upon  which  the  Chicago  of  the  future  must  draw  in  its 
growth. 

The  wheat  crop  of  the  country  in  1907  was  625,576,000  bushels, 
valued  at  the  farm  at  $500,000,000.  The  center  of  wheat  production 
is  in  western  Iowa,  about  400  miles  west  of  Chicago.  The  surplus 
crop  moves  eastward  to  its  market  and  throughout  her  whole  his- 
tory Chicago  has  levied  tribute  on  the  crop  in  transit.  It  has  been 
one  of  the  greatest  sources  of  bone  and  sinew  in  our  growing  com- 
mercial frame. 

The  maize  crop  of  America  in  1907  was  2,553,732,000  bushels, 
valued  in  the  farmer's  crib  at  $1,350,000,000 — a  sum  equal  to  three- 

82 


Fig.  25.     The  chief  wheat  producing  area. 


Iff  0.0  IV  HO  'Of  100  If  MB  If  fo  If 


Fig.  26.     The  chief  corn  producing  area. 


83 


fourths  the  value  of  the  entire  mineral  output  of  the  whole  country 
in  the  same  year.  And  this  is  the  crude  corn  before  it  is  converted 
into  pork  and  butter  and  starch  and  glucose  and  the  long  list  of 
other  high-priced  commodities  which  finally  get  to  the  consumer. 
Three-fourths  of  this  gigantic  crop  is  grown  in  the  area  commer- 
cially tributary  to  Chicago,  and  this  city  is  its  natural  market. 

One-third  of  this  corn  crop  is  fed  to  the  hogs,  and  the  swine 
map  is  quite  the  counterpart  of  the  corn  map.  One  could  be  sub- 
stituted for  the  other.  The  year's  swine  are  worth  $325,000,000  and 
most  of  them  go  to  market  by  way  of  Chicago.  Hogs  and  cattle 
have  been  far  and  away  the  largest  contributors  to  the  wealth  and 


Fig.  27.     The  area  of  maximum  swine  production. 

upbuilding  of  Chicago,  and  it  is  as  the  source  of  meat  foods  that 
Chicago  is  known  the  world  around.  Chicago's  easy  supremacy  in 
pork  packing  is  shown  graphically  in  Fig.  28,  the  recent  slowing  up 
in  the  rate  of  increase  marking  suggestively  the  rise  of  other  packing 
cities  in  the  corn  and  swine  area. 

The  oats  crop  is  a  sort  of  understudy  to  the  corn.  In  1907  this 
crop  was  741,521,000  bushels,  valued  at  $360,000,000.  And  again 
the  lion's  share  of  the  nation's  yield  is  in  the  Chicago  area. 

Hay,  too,  which  has  risen  to  second  place  in  crop  values,  shows 
the  same  great  concentration  in"  the  central  lowland,  and  following 
corn  and  hay,  the  distribution  of  cattle  discloses  the  old  story  of 

84 


PORK  PACKING 

TH£  ftfXOrCW&GOANO  Of  COVff 


Fig.  28.     The  growth  of  Chicago  in  pork  packing. 


Fig.  29.     The  area  of  maximum  cattle  production. 
85 


maximum  wealth  in  the  Chicago  region.  Not  on  the  Great  Plains, 
but  here  on  the  rich  corn  lands  looking  to  Chicago  as  the  chief  mar- 
ket, the  bulk  of  the  nation's  cattle  are  kept.  In  every  port  of 
Western  Europe  the  business  men  I  met  knew  Chicago  as  the  source 
of  most  of  their  imports. 

Only  a  few  of  the  great  resources  have  been  mentioned,  but 
each  one  exhibits  the  one  significant  fact,  that  Chicago  is  a  great 
commercial  focus,  because  conveniently  located  to  handle  the  prod- 
ucts of  the  rich  central  lowlands,  and  to  send  back  to  the  producers 
on  the  farms  the  multitude  of  commodities  a  prosperous  and  intelli- 
gent people  demands.  And  Chicago  is  great  in  proportion  as  she  is 
an  efficient  clearing  house  for  this  gigantic  hinterland.  For  the 
hinterland  of  Chicago  is  one  which  in  natural  wealth  and  possibili- 
ties rivals  not  one  European  country  alone,  but  all  of  Western 
Europe  combined. 

3.     How  Chicago  Became  a  Metropolis 

The  opportunity  to  become  a  metropolis,  and  the  measure  of 
that  opportunity  are  found  in  the  wealth  of  the  region  to  be  served. 
Chicago's  advantages  are  very  great,  but  equally  great  are  the  ad- 
vantages of  St.  Louis,  save  in  one  respect  only — Chicago  is  on  the 
Great  Lakes,  and  St.  Louis  is  not.  In  fact,  St.  Louis  is  better  located 
than  is  Chicago  with  reference  to  the  area  of  richest  farming  land ; 
and  almost  as  well  located  as  Chicago  with  reference  to  transporta- 
tion by  rail  with  New  York  and  the  other  North  Atlantic  ports.  But 
these  two  cities  have  risen  in  the  era  of  east-west  moving  traffic,  and 
for  this  reason  the  Mississippi  river  has  not  been  so  serviceable  to 
St.  Louis  as  the  Great  Lakes  have  to  Chicago.  Many  of  us  can 
remember  the  time  when  there  was  a  rivalry  between  these  two 
cities,  for  in  the  river  steamboat  days  St.  Louis  was  a  dangerous 
rival  of  Chicago.  The  record  of  the  rise  of  three  cities,  New  York, 
Chicago  and  St.  Louis  (Fig.  30),  is  most  instructive.  The  rate  of 
growth  from  1850  to  1870  was  much  alike  in  all  three  cities,  St. 
Louis  just  ahead  of  Chicago  and  running  neck  and  neck.  From 
1870  to  1890  New  York  and  Chicago  ran  with  an  increasing  rate  of 
gain,  St.  Louis  slowing  down  a  little.  From  1890  to  date  enormous 
gains  for  Chicago  and  New  York,  and  St.  Louis  drops  out  of  the 
race.  Since  1870  St.  Louis  has  largely  lost  her  steamboats,  and 
because  of  this  has  wholly  lost  her  rank.  Chicago,  less  advantage- 
ously placed  than  St.  Louis  with  reference  to  the  products  to  be 

86 


GROWTH  IN  POPULATION 


Fig.  30.     The  rise  in  population  of  three  cities. 


87 


exported  and  the  population  to  be  served  with  westward  moving 
freight,  has  forged  ahead  of  all  competitors  to  the  commanding 
position  of  mistress  of  the  great  and  immeasurably  rich  central  plain, 
because  she  had  a  choice  in  transportation  routes  to  and  from  the 
east.  Economic  freedom  consists  in  having  a  choice.  St  Louis 
lacked  the  water  route  to  the  east.  Chicago  was  free.  She  had  an 
option.  Her  merchants  could  send  their  wares  to  the  seaboard  by 
water  always  at  lower  rates  than  by  rail.  We  have  the  evidence  on 
record  in  the  case  of  some  commodities.  Take,  for  example,  wheat, 


IN  CENTS  PER  DU5HEL 
1857- 

CHICAGOTONEVYORK 


Fig.  31.     Rates  on  wheat  by  water  and  by  rail. 

which  was  one  of  the  largest  contributors  to  the  list  of  eastbound 
commodities  during  the  period  under  study.  The  published  rates 
for  the  all-rail  haul  Chicago  to  New  York  was,  in  1862,  42.37c,  and 
by  the  all-water  route  22.50c.  From  this  high  point  there  has  been 
a  steady  decline  in  the  case  of  both  water  and  rail,  but  always  with 
the  wide  range  of  difference  between  them,  the  rail  rate  being  from 
two  to  three  times  as  high  as  the  all-water  rate.  It  is  well  to  keep 
in  mind  that  these  are  the  published  rates.  We  are  all  well  aware 
that  large  and  favored  shippers  have  through  the  most  of  this  period 
enjoyed  much  better,  though  unpublished  advantages.  Thus  the  Chi- 


cago  merchant  has  always  had  the  superlative  advantage  of  water 
competition  on  freights  to  and  from  the  east.  This  does  not  mean 
that  most  of  the  freight  has  been  borne  by  water.  That  is  not  nec- 
essary. The  water  route  is  closed  nearly  half  the  year.  The  rail- 
roads are  in  service  at  all  times.  The  rail  unit  of  car  or  train  may 
go  through  unbroken.  In  the  more  important  freight  service  by  rail 
the  time  in  transit  is  shorter.  For  such  advantages  one  is  willing 
to  make  some  sacrifice  and  pay  rates  higher  than  by  water.  So  the 
railways  have  done  by  far  the  largest  fraction  of  the  carriage.  But 
the  potential  competition  of  the  water  route  has  always  been  a  trump 
in  the  merchant's  hand — and  the  railways  have  lowered  their  rates 
constantly  to  get  the  business.  Such  low  rates  naturally  diverted  a 
very  large  fraction  of  the  east-west  freight  to  the  route  along  the 
Great  Lakes,  betwen  New  York  and  Chicago.  This  large  flow  of 
freight  in  turn  was  so  great  a  prize  for  the  railways  that  new  rail- 
ways have  continually  entered  the  field  to  get  a  share  of  it,  and  as 
a  consequence  by  inter-railway  competition  the  lowest  freight  rates 
in  the  world  have  ruled  between  Chicago  and  Nezv  York.  We  must 
not  forget  that  these  lowest  rates  have  always  been  between  Chicago 
and  New  York.  Not  between  St.  Louis  and  New  York,  or  between 
Chicago  and  Baltimore  or  Philadelphia,  the  nearest  Atlantic  ports  to 
Chicago.  Every  man  in  business  knows,  and  every  man  in  the  street 
ought  to  know,  that  these  low  rates  have  been  a  special  favor  to 
New  York  and  Chicago,  and  not  to  any  other  cities  east  or  west. 
That  these  special  favors  have  made  it  possible  for  these  two  cities 
to  grow  great,  v;hile  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore  and  St.  Louis 
have  been  kept  in  the  background.  And  that  this  bestowal  of  rich 
favors  in  low  rates  and  good  service  has  accrued  to  New  York  and 
Chicago,  not  because  of  any  special  love  the  railways  have  had  for 
the  merchants  of  these  two  cities,  but  for  the  sole  reason  that  these 
merchants  have  had  the  active  or  potential  competition  of  a  water 
route  in  giving  them  a  low  rate.  These  curves  showing  the  growth 
of  great  American  cities  should  be  studied  by  the  average  citizen  in 
all  these  cities  favored  or  discriminated  against,  for  in  the  final 
analysis  the  average  citizen  pays  the  freight,  and  the  question  of 
water  competition  in  helping  to  establish  low  freight  rates  touches 
him  most  intimately. 

And  this  point  is  of  most  significance  to  us  in  Chicago  in  view 
of  the  constant  efforts,  open  and  veiled,  to  suppress  water  competi- 
tion and  put  the  water  traffic  on  the  shelf.  Chicago  is  great  because 
of  the  water  route  to  the  east.  The  Great  Lakes  could  not  have 

89 


done  the  service  alone.  The  Erie  Canal  has  been  quite  as  large  a 
helper  in  our  upbuilding.  And  it  was  our  greatest  good  fortune  that 
this  is  a  state-owned  canal,  and  hence  not  to  be  controlled  in  the 
interests  of  the  managers  of  through  rail  service.  How  many  efforts 
have  been  made  by  private  parties  to  buy  it  up,  or  to  cripple  its 
service  with  one  device  after  another !  And  that  these  methods  have 
been  successful  seems  patent.  It  has  been  reported  before  this  Com- 
mission by  a  railway  man  in  a  position  to  know  that  "today  the  Erie 
Canal  competition  is  ignored  by  the  railways."  To  have  the  Erie 
Canal  suppressed,  and  to  have  our  harbor  go  into  decadence  is,  for 
Chicago,  to  kill  the  goose  that  laid  the  golden  egg.  If  the  Germans 
had  the  Erie  opportunity  it  would  be  a  ship  canal  with  28  feet  draft, 


REDUCTION  IN  THRU  FREIGHT  RATES 

BETWEEN  MANCHESTER  AND  N.W.EUROPE 
RATES  IN  SHILLINGS  PEB  TON  BY  RYTO HULL  AND  NEWCASTLE 


Fig.  32.     Freight  rates  at  Manchester. 

locks  1,000  feet  long,  taking  vessels  from  every  sea  to  Chicago,  and 
converting  every  lake  port  into  an  ocean  port,  and  enormously  ex- 
panding our  commerce. 

Manchester's  experience  in  this  connection  is  illuminating.  For, 
like  Chicago,  Manchester  is  a  city  in  the  focus  of  a  very  rich  and 
industrially  active  region.  And  the  merchants  of  Manchester  to  do 
business  with  the  outside  world,  had  to  accept  the  conditions  imposed 
by  the  railways,  and  by  the  port  of  Liverpool.  They  felt  that  the 
rates  were  too  high,  both  by  rail  and  in  the  port.  They  plead  for 
better  conditions,  but  got  no  satisfaction  and  not  much  attention, 
until  the  people  of  the  town  decided  to  solve  the  problem  once  for 
all  and  bring  the  sea  to  their  own  doors.  And  when  the  canal  was 

90 


authorized  and  work  begun,  rates  came  down.  And  when  the  canal 
was  opened  and  the  freight  began  to  go  past  Liverpool  without  pay- 
ing tribute,  the  rates  came  down  again.  The  measure  of  the  advan- 
tage to  the  people  of  Manchester  is  made  graphic  in  Fig.  32,  showing 
reductions  of  from  30  to  50  per  cent  in  the  freight  charges  on  the 
chief  commodities. 

Since  the  growth  of  Chicago  has  been  due  to  having  a  water 
route  between  the  great  central  plain  and  the  markets  of  the  out- 
side world,  the  logical  conclusion  is  not  hard  to  arrive  at.  It  is  of 
the  most  vital  importance  to  Chicago  to  keep  and  to  enlarge  in  every 
possible  way  the  alternative  of  water  facilities  in  transportation. 
And  since  it  is  perfectly  patent  that  a  large  fraction  of  the  wealth 
and  commercial  advantage  New  York  enjoys  is  due  to  handling 
over  the  traffic  to  and  from  the  rich  Chicago  region,  it  is  high  time 
that  the  people  of  Chicago  begin  to  take  measures  for  the  establish- 
ment of  deep  water  communication  with  the  sea,  so  that  we  may 
collect  the  toll  and  reap  the  benefit  of  handling  our  own  freight, 
rather  than  turning  it  over  to  New  York. 

4.     The  Manifest  Destiny 

.  The  manifest  destiny  of  Chicago  is  that  she  shall  become  the 
commercial  focus  between  the  rich  central  plain  and  all  the  rest  of 
the  world.  To  do  this,  one  absolutely  essential  step  is  plain — Chi- 
cago must  become  her  own  seaport.  And  nature  has  been  lavish  in 
offering  us  opportunities  for  this  ambition.  A  ship  canal  will  bring 
the  freight  vessels  of  all  the  world  to  our  own  wharves.  Our  mer- 
chants may  be  independent  both  in  importing  and  exporting  in  the 
service  of  the  large  and  growing  population  in  the  Chicago  hinter- 
land. 

The  depth  of  channel  requisite  is  shown  in  the  studies  of  the 
freight  traffic  of  many  ports.  Take,  for  example,  the  case  of  Glas- 
gow. The  records  of  the  Clyde  Navigation  Trust  show  that  of  a 
total  of  300  vessels  of  22  feet  draft  and  over  entering  the  Clyde  river 
in  1900,  100  were  of  22  feet  draft,  90  were  23  feet,  73  of  24  feet, 
31  of  25  feet  and  only  three  each  of  26  and  26l/2  feet.  And  in  1907 
the  same  records  show  that  in  a  total  of  17,740  vessels  entered  at 
Glasgow  in  the  year  ending  June  30,  1907,  11,256  were  of  100  tons 
burden  or  less ;  4,337  had  a  tonnage  of  100  to  500  tons ;  708  were  of 
a  tonnage  over  500  and  less  than  1,000 ;  578  were  over  1,000  and  less 
than  2,000;  713  had  a  tonnage  between  2,000  and  4,000 ;  144  between 

91 


CLYDE   KAVIGATION 


tift      f3          14.         IS         26      fft 


(B1 


CLYDE   NAVIGATION 


YtSStis 

JfUM '^ff 
3**  A 


TOTAL  JWMaiX  OF  KSSUS 
l??«0 


JTCT    RIGISTIX    TOVS 


ANTWERP 


Fig.  33.     The  size  of  ocean  freighters. 


92 


4,000  and  6,000;  and  only  4  of  6,000  tons  and  over.  Again,  in  the 
case  of  Antwerp,  in  the  year  1907  the  total  number  of  vessels  en- 
tered showed,  of  sail,  417  with  an  average  net  register  tonnage  of 
555  tons;  of  steam,  5,867  vessels,  with  an  average  tonnage  of  1,866 
tons.  As  to  size,  there  were  of  steam  vessels  398  with  a  net  register 
tonnage  of  51  to  500  tons;  2,964  with  between  500  and  1,500  tons; 
796  of  1,500  to  2,500  tons;  854  of  2,500  to  3,500  tons;  480  of  3,500 
to  4,500  tons ;  185  of  4,500  to  5,500  tons ;  and  184  of  a  tonnage  over 
5,500  tons. 

The  surprising  thing  to  notice  in  all  this  is  the  small  size  of  the 
vessels  doing  the  freight  service  on  the  sea.  These  two  ports  are 
typical.  The  same  record  would  be  shown  by  the  other  great  ports. 
The  great  leviathans  with  35  feet  draft  and  high  tonnage  are  the 
few  passenger  boats  and  men  of  war.  The  freight  they  carry  is  an 
insignificant  contribution  to  the  traffic  of  the  sea.  The  average 
freight  boat  of  the  sea  is  smaller,  much  smaller  than  the  later  and 
larger  boats  carrying  coal  and  ore  on  the  great  lakes.  A  28-foot 
canal  would  carry  practically  all  the  world's  freight  traffic  boats  to 
Chicago. 

I  asked  the  traffic  managers  in  the  various  ports  I  visited  as 
to  the  tendency  of  freight  boats  to  grow  larger.  There  is  a  well- 
defined  opinion  amongst  them  all  that  there  is  at  present  no  tendency 
for  the  freight  boats  to  grow  larger.  It  is  hard  enough  now  for  a 
3;500-ton  boat  to  get  a  cargo  and  run  on  a  regular  schedule.  More- 
over, it  is  not  necessary  to  design  boats  even  of  much  larger  size  to 
require  more  than  28  feet  draft.  And  in  the  newer  models  the  boat 
is  given  a  broader  beam  and  greater  length  in  order  to  increase  its 
carrying  capacity  rather  than  giving  it  a  greater  draft. 

Our  location  is  extremely  fortunate  in  that  it  gives  us  three 
alternative  routes  for  deep  water  channels  to  the  sea.  By  the  time 
our  country  has  achieved  the  attitude  of  Germany  toward  the  de- 
velopment of  internal  transportation  all  three  of  these  routes  will 
be  developed. 

The  first  of  these  routes  is  that  of  the  Erie  Canal.  This  lies 
in  exactly  the  line  to  be  of  most  service,  as  commerce  is  now  organ- 
ized, for  it  leads  to  New  York,  where  freight  opportunities  are  at 
present  at  the  very  apex  of  advantage.  But  we  may  be  sure  that 
this  route  will  not  be  developed  at  the  present  time — for  to  the  nat- 
ural opposition  of  the  railways  will  be  added  the  entire  opposition 
of  the  city  of  New  York  and  all  its  mercantile  and  marine  interests. 

93 


It  would  require  the  unanimous  co-operation  of  all  the  rest  of  the 
country  to  secure  a  ship  canal  on  this  route  against  these  interests. 
The  second  alternative  is  a  new  route  the  Canadian  government 
has  under  consideration  at  this  time — a  canal  which  will  lead  out  of 
the  Georgian  Bay  to  Lake  Nipissing,  thence  over  the  divide  and 
down  the  Ottawa  river  to  Montreal.  The  preliminary  surveys  are 
made  for  this  venture  and  the  engineers  are  working  out  the  ques- 
tion of  costs.  This  scheme  is  of  the  greatest  significance  to  Chicago, 
for  it  will  be  seen  by  an  inspection  of  a  globe  that  this  route  will 
give  Chicago  practically  a  great  circle  route  to  Liverpool  and  the 
other  ports  of  Northwest  Europe,  saving  774  miles  over  the  present 


Fig,  34.     Map  showing  the  route  of  the  proposed  Nipissing  Canal. 

journey  by  way  of  New  York.  Another  very  patent  advantage  to  us 
is  that  this  route  will  give  the  Chicago  merchant  a  choice  again  of 
playing  the  advantages  of  this  route  against  the  New  York  route, 
under  conditions  almost  certain  to  assure  the  best  service  and  lowest 
rates  in  the  trade  with  Europe.  And  this  advantage  will  accrue  even 
if  it  should  not  prove  advisable  to  bring  ocean  vessels  through  the 
canal  to  Chicago.  The  choice  of  routes  will  be  enough  to  assure 
the  Chicago  merchants  the  same  advantages  they  have  had  up  to  date 
by  having  more  than  one  transportation  interest  eager  to  carry  their 
goods. 

The   third  alternative   is   equally   fascinating,   and  that   is  the 

94 


making  of  a  deep  waterway  down  the  Mississippi  river  to  the  Gulf. 
And  in  this  connection  we  are  not  serious  in  calling  14  feet  a  deep 
waterway.  Fourteen  feet  will  do  wonders,  as  the  development  of 
the  Rhine  and  other  rivers  of  Northwest  Europe  proves.  But  it 
might  just  as  well  be  28  feet,  as  it  most  certainly  will  be  when  we 
become  alive  to  our  opportunities. 

We  have  not  begun  to  appreciate  our  opportunities  in  water 
transportation  on  this  great  flat  plain  of  ours.  On  a  basis  of  3  feet 
minimum  draft  we  have  in  America  now  over  14,000  miles  of  nav- 
igable waterways,  and  this  is  measuring  in  smooth  lines,  not  count- 
ing sinuosities.  But  our  possibilities  are  vastly  greater  than  this, 
for  many  streams  not  now  navigable  will  furnish  good  navigation 
when  canalized.  It  will  be  suggestive  to  place  a  map  of  the  canals 
and  navigable  rivers  of  a  part  of  the  plain  of  Northwest  Europe 
(Fig.  35)  side  by  side  for  purposes  of  comparison,  with  an  equal 
area  in  the  plain  about  Chicago  (Fig.  36).  Then  let  us  reflect 
that  the  Rhine  carries  more  freight  to  and  from  the  hinterland 
than  the  railways  do,  and  let  us  think  what  our  waterways,  if 
given  the  same  attention  and  opportunity  as  in  Germany,  could  be 
doing  for  Chicago  and  the  region  tributary.  For  Chicago  has,  in 
the  waterways  present  and  potential  of  the  Mississippi  and  St.  Law- 
rence valleys,  what  is  better  than  half  a  dozen  Rhine  rivers,  ready  to 
serve  Chicago  as  the  Rhine  does  Rotterdam. 

Chicago's  greatest  opportunity  in  commerce  looking  to  the 
future  is  toward  the  south.  The  distance  from  Chicago  to  New 
Orleans  is  just  about  the  same  as  from  Chicago  to  New  York.  The 
development  of  deep  water  transportation  along  the  Mississippi  axis 
will  give  Chicago  a  direct  water  highway  to  the  vast  future  markets 
of  South  America.  The  completion  of  the  Panama  Canal  will  open 
the  markets  of  the  Orient  to  us.  On  the  trade  with  South  America 
the  Chicago  merchant  may  save  on  his  freight  the  cost  and  time  of 
the  Chicago-New  York  trip.  On  all  the  Pacific  trade  he  will  save 
twice  that.  Thus  the  Chicago  merchant  will  be  independent  of 
New  York  in  all  this  trade.  And  he  will  have  an  added  advantage  in 
a  water  route  to  the  Pacific  ports  of  America,  which  will  fix  the 
maximum  rates  on  the  railway  haul  to  the  Pacific  coast. 

Considering  all  these  opportunities,  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say 
that  there  is  no  other  such  brilliant  opportunity  on  earth  for  mer- 
chandising as  Chicago  offers.  With  the  waterways  of  the  great 
plain  developed  for  craft  of  the  size  and  character  of  the  Rhine 
boats,  the  Chicago  merchants  may  have  absolute  control  of  freight 

95 


rates  and  hence  of  the  local  market  situation  at  every  town  along 
the  Mississippi  from  St.  Paul  to  the  Gulf ;  on  the  Missouri  river  to 
the  Great  Plains ;  on  the  Ohio  to  Pittsburg,  and  on  many  tributaries 
to  these  main  streams.  And  with  the  deep  waterway  to  the  sea,  the 
import  and  export  traffic  with  all  the  world  may  be  handled  with 
exactly  the  same  opportunity  for  controlling  the  ocean  transporta- 
tion as  is  enjoyed  by  New  York  or  Hamburg. 

The  deep  water  development  of  these  commercial  routes  is  sure 
to  come.  It  is  only  a  matter  of  education.  The  time  we  must  wait 
will  be  short,  in  proportion  as  we  are  enlightened.  And  in  its  devel- 


CANAL3  AND  NA/IGAHLE  RP/ER5 
OF  THE  GERMAN  PLAIN 


Fig.  35.     Navigable  waterways  of  the  German  plain. 

opment  the  merchant  and  manufacturer  of  Chicago  stands  to  gain 
immeasurably  over  any  other  possible  commercial  focus.  On  the 
experience  of  Manchester,  Hamburg,  Rotterdam  and  Antwerp  in 
ventures  already  worked  out  and  demonstrated  as  successes,  it 
would  pay  Chicago  to  construct  any  one  of  the  great  ship  canals 
single-handed  and  alone  if  she  could.  But  in  the  nature  of  the  case 
Chicago  may  not  undertake  any  one  of  the  ventures  any  more  than 
Antwerp  can.  Since  she  cannot  do  it  alone,  it  will  be  the  part  of 
wisdom  for  her  to  leave  no  stone  unturned,  politically  or  education- 

96 


ally,  to  advance  in  every  possible  way  the  development  of  any  or  all 
of  these  routes.  Economic  freedom  consists  in  having  a  choice,  and 
Chicago  may  just  as  well  have  not  only  an  option  between  rail  and 
water,  but  between  alternative  water  routes  to  the  markets  of  the 
Mississippi  basin  and  to  those  of  the  world  over  seas. 

The  opportunity  to  keep  our  hold  upon  the  present  hinterland 
of  Chicago  is  one  few  people  realize,  for  we  have  only  barely  begun 
the  development  of  this  great  area.  To  see  the  possibilities  of  the 


Fig.  36.     A  part  of  the  Chicago  plain  equal  in  area  to  that 
shown  in  Fig.  35,  showing  navigable  waterways. 

region  commercially  tributary  to  Chicago  one  must  put  it  alongside 
the  highly  developed  lands  of  Western  Europe.  Climatically  the 
parallel  is  good.  As  to  mineral  resources,  the  comparison  again  is 
fair.  As  to  population,  our  blood  and  culture  are  the  same,  and 
standards  of  living  are  comparable.  So  what  these  European  lands 
are  now  doing  it  is  fair  to  suppose  we  may  soon  do. 

Upon  the  area  which  we  consider  is  commercially  tributary  to 
Chicago  we  can  superpose  the  following  list  of  countries,  the  pres- 

97 


ent  populations  of  which  are  given  to  show  what  these  lands  are 
doing  in  the  way  of  supporting  people,  compared  with  what  our  area 
is  doing  at  the  present: 

Britain    42,000,000 

Denmark    2,600,000 

Germany    60,000,000 

Holland    6,000,000 

Belgium    7,000,000 

Switzerland     3,315,000 

France    39,000,000 

Spain  and  Portugal   25,000,000 


Total      184,315,000 


(Fig.  37.)     The  Chicago  area  with  European  lands  superposed. 

The  American  States  in  the  Chicago  area  contain  at  present  a 
population  of  28,000,000.  Thus  the  European  countries  of  about 
equal  area  have  a  population  seven  times  as  great.  These  European 
countries,  with  the  exception  of  England,  Belgium  and  Germany, 
and  to  a  small  extent  France,  feed  their  people  upon  their  own 
area.  Yet  in  every  case  our  area  covered  in  this  map  is  far  richer 
and  better  able  to  support  the  large  population  than  the  European 
country  is.  At  the  rate  our  own  population  has  increased  the  last 
half  century,  the  28,000,000  now  tributary  to  Chicago  will  have 
become  252,000,000  within  the  present  century.  This  rate  at  which 

98 


INCREASE  OF  POPULATION 
VARIOUSLANDS 

tiOO-1900 


Fig.  38.     Increase  in  population  in  various  lands  1800-1900. 


we  are  now  growing  may  not  last.  But  even  if  we  adopt  the  rate 
at  which  old  and  stable  Germany  has  increased,  the  Chicago  area 
will  have  at  the  end  of  the  present  century  a  population  of  100,000,- 
000.  But  all  over  the  world  the  cities  are  increasing  in  population 
faster  than  rural  lands,  and  the  largest  cities  have  the  fastest  rate 
of  growth.  So  a  very  modest  estimate  for  the  end  of  the  present 
century  would  make  Chicago  a  city  of  10,000,000  inhabitants.  This 
is  the  city,  and  this  is  the  future  it  is  our  duty  to  plan  for  now.  The 
possibilities  are  fascinating. 

5.     Planning  for  the  Future 

A  mere  enumeration  of  the  natural  resources  of  the  Chicago 
hinterland,  the  scantiest  catalogue  of  advantages  Chicago  has  in 
her  position  in  relation  to  commerce  with  this  rich  tributary  area, 
the  slightest  acquaintance  with  what  has  been  done  within  a  cen- 
tury in  the  development  of  this  region,  must  make  one  an  optim- 
ist as  to  the  future  of  Chicago.  And  we  need  to  have  the  per- 
spective such  a  study  gives  in  order  to  plan  at  all  for  the  future. 
With  such  possibilities  in  commerce  before  us  how  pitiful  it  seems, 
to  be  compromising  on  a  140-foot  channel,  and  shying  at  sharp 
curves  and  projecting  property  in  the  only  excuse  for  a  harbor 
the  fifth  city  in  the  world  can  claim  for  its  own.  The  least  that 
can  be  done  is  to  plan  for  an  immediate  future  we  know  will  be 
ours:  a  harbor  adequate  for  the  ocean  traffic  a  city  of  our  rank 
will  command;  provision  for  the  magnificent  fleet  of  river  boats 
we  are  soon  to  have.  With  this  point  of  view  let  us  look  at  the 
provision  made  in  some  of  the  world's  great  harbors  for  traffic 
they  already  have,  and  make  close  application  to  our  own  map. 

Antwerp's  present  opportunity  is  only  a  fraction  of  what  ours 
is  to  be  within  the  century.  Yet  Antwerp  has  already  adopted 
plans,  and  reserved  the  land  for  a  harbor  extension  which  is  here 
shown  to  scale  (Fig.  39)  superposed  upon  the  map  of  Chicago, 
and  which  makes  our  present  harbor  facilities  look  very  small  and 
cheap.  Hamburg's  prospects  for  traffic  are  not  nearly  so  great  as 
those  of  Chicago.  Yet  Hamburg  has  within  a  generation  created  a 
harbor  which  is  already  a  candidate  for  first  place  among  the 
world's  great  ports.  The  water  area  of  the  basins  at  Hamburg 
is  here  also  shown  to  scale  extending  for  five  miles  along 
our  lake  front.  In  the  case  of  Hamburg  this  harbor  area  is  con- 
sidered as  barely  adequate  for  current  commercial  needs,  and  at 
Antwerp  it  is  fully  believed  that  the  area  reserved  will  all  be 

100 


(Fig.  39.)     Chicago  with  Antwerp  Extension  and  Hamburg  Freihafen 


If/ 


needed  within  the  next  two  generations.  Our  possibilities  of 
growth  and  need  of  dock  space  are  much  greater  than  both  of 
these  cities  combined.  The  conclusion  is  plain,  that  the  whole 
drainage  canal  should  be  looked  upon  as  a  harbor  for  develop- 
ment as  a  manufacturing  region,  and  suitable  provision  made  for 
adequate  docks  and  turning  basins.  But  for  the  commerce  of  the 
Great  Lakes,  and  the  ocean  boats  which  may  come  from  the  East 
and  Northeast,  extensive  areas  on  the  lake  front  should  be  re- 
served. 

The  question  of  bridges  in  the  present  river  is  one  which  al- 
most puts  it  out  of  the  question  to  look  for  the  conversion  of  the 
river  in  the  down  town  section  into  a  harbor  at  all.  No  great 
harbor  tolerates  bridges.  There  are  none  on  the  Clyde,  only  one 
swing  bridge  on  the  Tyne,  the  two  high  bridges  permitting  ships 
to  go  under  them  as  the  bridges  on  East  river,  New  York,  do. 
The  harbor  at  London  is  below  the  bridges.  There  are  no  bridges 
across  the  harbor  at  Antwerp,  and  almost  all  of  the  harbor  busi- 
ness is  below  the  bridges  at  Rotterdam.  And  again  at  Hamburg, 
the  ocean  harbor  is  wholly  below  the  bridges. 

The  lake  front  offers  a  better  site  for  harbor  construction, 
better  located  with  reference  to  the  needs  of  the  ships  and  the 
town,  and  with  the  engineering  difficulties  more  simple,  and  with 
costs' of  acquisition  lower,  than  is  found  for  harbor  extension  at 
Liverpool  or  Glasgow,  or  Manchester  or  Newcastle,  or  London 
or  Bristol  or  Havre  or  Hamburg.  Only  Rotterdam  and  Antwerp 
of  all  the  great  ports  compare  with  it  in  convenience  of  location, 
simplicity  and  low  cost  required. 

The  demands  of  street  traffic  are  of  the  first  importance. 
London  has  carried  two  great  thoroughfares  under  the  Thames, 
in  one  case  with  a  30  foot  tunnel  over  a  mile  long  rather  than 
encumber  the  river  with  bridges. 

The  evidence  of  all  the  great  harbors  shows  that  streets  should 
not  be  obstructed,  nor  ships  hampered  by  bridges.  Hamburg's 
solution  is  to  have  canals  on  the  upper  river  served  by  low  lying 
craft  which  can  go  under  fixed  bridges.  Our  grades  lie  amply 
high  above  the  river  to  allow  the  Rhine  type  boat  to  go  freely 
from  the  lake  under  the  bridges  to  any  warehouse  on  either  branch 
of  the  river,  and  down  the  drainage  canal.  Ships  might  lie  at 
anchor  on  the  lake  front.  Barges  as  lighters  or  even  the  Rhine 
boat  built  for  lake  service,  may  serre  any  warehouse  on  the  river 
or  on  canals  leading  out  from  the  rivers,  without  interfering  at 
all  with  street  traffic. 


101 


It  would  be  immensely  advantageous  to  the  congested  busi- 
ness center  of  the  city  to  be  free  to  expand  to  north  and  west  with 
unobstructed  streets  full  width.  Fixed  bridges  offer  a  splendid 
architectural  opportunity,  and  the  river  part  of  the  city  might  be- 
come the  most  beautiful  and  attractive  part  of  the  town. 

If  the  harbor  were  established  on  the  lake  front  the  connec- 
tion with  the  railway  systems  could  be  very  easily  provided  for, 
as  is  shown  at  Antwerp,  Rotterdam  and  Hamburg.  Harbor  areas 
providing  for  water  traffic  on  the  largest  scale  in  the  world,  are 
served  by  railways  without  interfering  with  the  streets  of  the  city 
any  more  than  our  belt  lines  now  do.  And  Hamburg  is  laying 
out  now,  a  new  terminal  railway  system,  in  which  the  railway 
tracks  are  either  elevated  or  depressed,  and  free  from  grade  cross- 
ings. All  service  is  to  be  electric,  and  every  provision  is  taken 
to  have  the  installation  efficient  and  unobtrusive. 

In  harbor  administration  the  whole  list  of  ports  studied  shows 
that  greatest  efficiency  has  been  coupled  with  the  nearest  approach 
to  monopoly  in  the  management  of  all  the  service  of  transporta- 
tion in  the  port.  Outside  of  Liverpool,  where  the  national^  laws 
make  a  trust  an  easy  venture,  the  best  examples  are  Rotterdam, 
Antwerp  and  Hamburg,  where  the  harbor  affairs  are  purely  and 
simply  a  part  of  the  municipal  government.  It  is  my  conviction 
that  such  an  organization  is  much  more  likely  to  be  permanently 
successful  with  us.  But  in  these  cities  the  men  chosen  as  heads 
of  departments  are  of  the  highest  ability  and  training,  and  have 
the  advantage  of  the  best  expert  advice  in  all  their  undertakings. 
The  harbor  board  or  department  put  in  charge  of  these  matters 
should  be  given  definite  and  far-reaching  powers.  Among  these 
powers  should  be  the  power  to  take  land  by  purchase  or  otherwise 
for  harbor  extension  or  improvement ;  power  to  build  and  operate 
wharves,  docks,  sheds,  warehouses,  railway  tracks  and  other 
freight  handling  facilities. 

The  experience  of  Manchester  shows  that  such  power  should 
be  given  as  would  enable  the  harbor  authority  if  necessary  to  be- 
come a  terminal  railway  company  to  serve  all  the  wharves  and  con- 
nect with  all  other  railways.  Such  a  terminal  railway  company 
would  go  farther  to  ensure  a  proper  handling  of  freight  to  and 
from  the  boats  in  our  harbor  than  any  other  provision  that  could 
be  made. 

If  such  a  harbor  authority  could  be  so  organized  as  to  bring 
to  its  service  men  of  the  highest  ability  and  experience,  men  who 

102 


represent  Chicago,  and  not  special  interests,  men  who  could  have 
the  united  support  of  the  brains  and  wealth  of  Chicago  behind 
them,  Chicago  may  come  to  her  own ;  a  marvelous  commercial 
plexus,  the  metropolis  of  the  New  World. 

Chicago's  manifest  destiny  is  plain.  It  is  to  be  the  world's 
greatest  entrepot.  Importing  from  every  foreign  port,  exporting 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  With  fleets  of  her  own  river  boats  of 
the  Rhine  type  plying  on  a  grander  network  of  waterways  than 
even  Germany  has  yet  planned.  With  other  fleets  of  ocean  going 
steamers  free  to  go  on  three  different  routes  to  the  sea.  On  a 
par  in  the  world's  trade  with  New  York,  London,  Antwerp,  Ham- 
burg. The  magnitude  of  her  trade  limited  only  by  the  possibil- 
ities of  her  hinterland,  the  richest  on  earth.  Our  future  is  as 
great  as  we  are  wise  enough  to  make  it.  Our  limitations  are 
human  and  social,  not  in  the  opportunities  nature  has  given  us. 


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HE 

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RKffM 


